Education Diary: Largest number of schools opening for three decades

This academic year is going to be busy, with the largest number of schools opening for three decades. "Record" openings, chirps a press release from the department for curtains and soft furnishings (DCSF). Opponents of academies look away now: 51 of the blighters will open this year. Ditto 24 schools funded by Building Schools for the Future, the organisation set up by Tony Blair that plans to rebuild or renew every secondary school in the country. More than 150 other new schools will also come into being. To celebrate, the DCSF yesterday launched a whistle-stop tour for five of the department's bigwigs, plus four tag-alongs (including Tessa Jowell, above, and Rosie Winterton). The heroic band visited 30 schools during the school day. Ed Balls did five in a morning; Beverley Hughes six in a day. Poor Andrew Adonis only managed two, though he did have to travel between Croydon and Southampton. How did the ministers handle the short time slots? "Sorry, I've got five minutes to tell you how great your school is, then I've got to dash". Still, it's the thought that counts.

If you want to be a teacher, don't go to Greece. That's the verdict from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which reveals that the southern European country spends the lowest percentage of its education budget on teachers' salaries – well below the OECD average, in fact. It also demands the highest number of hours – above the OECD average.

There's been a lot of mud heaped on the SAT tests, but very little advice for parents of under-14s about how to cope with them. But Guinea Pig Education, a family-run company in Surrey, publishes guides that parents can use at home to supplement the teaching their children receive in school. The books teach reading and writing in line with the national curriculum, and can be used for children with a wide range of needs, from dyslexia and physical or emotional problems to English as a second language. Mother-daughter team Sally and Amanda Jones (one a teacher and illustrator, the other an English language MA) started writing the books for parents, friends and neighbours, who all swear by them. The books have made it on to Amazon and into the high street. The family is also involved in a project to send reading materials to orphans in Africa. For details: www. guineapigeducation.co.uk

De Civilitate Morum Puerilium Libellus. Not versed in Latin? Well, our online translator tells us it means: "About civil to linger childish little book". That is, of course, wrong. It's actually the title of a book by some dude called Erasmus von Rotterdam (right). A Handbook on Good Manners for Children, published in 1530, was the biggest seller of the 16th century (they didn't have Harry Potter back then) and has been published in a new translation – the first for 100 years – by Eleanor Merchant. Erasmus instructed youngsters thus: "Willingly give up your seat to someone of higher rank"; and, "Turn your face away when you spit, so that you don't hit anyone with its splash-back"; and, "Both wine and beer (which is as inebriating as wine) are as harmful to children's health as they are unsuitable".

We don't know what the great Dutch humanist and scholar would have made of today's youth, but we would advise you to avoid enforcing his rules while riding on a London bus.

education@independent.co.uk