Popular interest in history is peaking like perhaps never before in the 21st century. Films such as Spartan gore-fest 300 have proven big hits at the box office in recent years, and many more ancient world movies – including Centurion, Clash of the Titans and Valhalla Rising – are set to arrive in 2010.

Fifteen of the country's most historically valuable schools have been given listed building protection, flying in the face of government plans to demolish large numbers of such schools across Britain.

The Conservatives will today unveil plans to lure people from the world of banking into teaching.

Teachers' leaders are today calling for a new government grant to help white working class children lift themselves from the bottom of the heap when it comes to exam performance.

Only students at a handful of red-brick universities would benefit from a Conservative plan to repay the loans of maths and science graduates if they opted to become teachers, it emerged today.

The pre-election campaigning raged on today, with Gordon Brown setting out new plans to encourage social mobility while David Cameron promised Conservatives would boost schools by restoring the prestige of the teaching profession.