The National Education Union (NEU) has immediately rejected a proposal made by the education secretary for new teachers to receive a 9 per cent pay rise, as ministers attempt to head off a series of strikes across the UK. By Kate Devlin, The Independent.

Supply teacher agencies have warned that plans for an “army of supply teachers” to plug staff gaps if strikes go ahead are “not feasible”. By Freddie Whittaker, Schools Week.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, writes in Tes on the latest Ofsted data highlighting the impact of underfunding on England's early years sector.

Journalist Richard Morrison writes in The Times questioning whether the Government's plans for music education will have any real impact. Mr Morrison says: "Politicians will swear blind that they believe music to be an essential strand in children’s lives, but when push comes to shove — when they are allocating time and money to individual subjects — music always seems to end up at the back of the queue."

The Government has told universities that they must be candid with students about dropout and graduate employment rates when advertising courses in order to give students more clarity about what universities are offering them. By Emma Yeomans, The Times.

Universities in England have fought back against the Government for pressuring them to reconsider their memberships with the Race Equality Charter, run by the charity Advance HE. In a letter of response on Thursday, Universities UK said “an important line has been crossed with the letter appearing to direct universities to take a specific approach” on equalities. By Richard Adams, The Guardian.

Schools Week reports that up to 3000 rural primary schools are set to get fast fibre broadband over the next three years as part of an £82 million government scheme. By Samantha Booth.

According to Schools Week, the Department for Education (DfE) is now monitoring WiFi use to track employee attendance after ordering staff to return to office working at least four days a week. By Freddie Whittaker.

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