Talks will be held today between the education secretary and union leaders in an attempt to resolve the dispute over teachers' pay and avert strike action due to take place on Wednesday. Union leaders will meet Gillian Keegan after previous discussions failed to reach a compromise. By Alan Jones, The Independent.

Gillian Keegan has said that teachers should tell their heads if they are intending to strike to allow schools to “take important operational decisions” and avoid “additional and unnecessary disruption”. By John Roberts, Tes. Writing in The Telegraph, Ms Keegan warns that 'keeping heads in the dark over strike plans' could risk pupils’ safety in schools. By Camilla Turner. The piece by Gillian Keegan appears below halfway.

The Labour Party is expected to make a fresh attempt today to block new legislation being proposed by the Government that would keep schools open during strikes by introducing legally-required minimum service levels across six key public sectors. By Ewan Somerville, The Telegraph.

The Sunday Times takes a closer look at how schools are preparing for the strikes, with some planning art activities and 'giant' classes. It has emerged that teachers belonging to the National Education Union (NEU) are not obliged to reveal if they are joining the planned industrial action, meaning that some schools will not know how many teachers will be striking until Wednesday morning. By Sian Griffiths. The Times reports that up to 4.5 million pupils may be forced to stay away from school on Wednesday, the biggest day of industrial action for 10 years. By Ben Ellery.

According to The Telegraph, some non-striking teachers will be told to come into school even if the classrooms are empty. By Louisa Clarence-Smith.

BBC News explores why teachers in membership of the NEU are taking strike action. By Branwen Jeffreys.

An editorial piece in The Telegraph describes the teaching strikes due to take place this week as "morally unconscionable".

The Telegraph features an interview with Katharine Birbalsingh, the former social mobility tsar, in which she discusses the industrial action planned for this week. She says: "People strike when they’re unhappy. And I think there is a lot for teachers to be unhappy about. And what’s going to fix things for them is not more money; it’s better ideas." By Camilla Turner.

According to The Telegraph, Sir Keir Starmer received a bursary to fund his sixth form studies at Reigate Grammar School. On the subject of the charitable status of independent schools, which the Labour leader has vowed to remove, Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), is quoted, saying: "In fulfilment of their charitable obligations, most independent schools have made a huge effort to raise bursary money, enabling children from disadvantaged homes to go to their schools. Anything which increases the costs of independent schools such as the removal of charitable benefits will directly impact the reach of these bursaries." Shaun Fenton, headmaster of Reigate Grammar School, is also quoted. By Camilla Turner.

Jane Lunnon, head of Alleyn's School, has said that artificial intelligence (AI) software such as ChatGPT has become so powerful that schools are having to move away from relying on traditional homework to assess what pupils know, with children at Alleyn's being asked instead to complete detailed research ahead of the next lesson. Ms Lunnon has expressed concerns that children using AI would struggle to develop resilience, saying: "We all know how important it is to learn to fail." By Nicola Woolcock, The Times.

In the latest ISC blog, Clare Ives, senior deputy head at Sevenoaks School, explains how and why the school has embedded the principle of equity into its strategy.

Writing in Schools Week, Heidi Heinemann considers the benefits of state-independent school partnerships. “I believe firmly that cross-sector work between state and private schools has the potential to re-shape future leaders’ approaches to class and inequality”, she says, but warns that, “without careful consideration, cross-sector work can perpetuate inequality and classism”. Heidi Heinemann is education lead at The Roots Programme.

A group of former education ministers has criticised proposals to reduce dozens of popular vocational qualifications and instead ‘push’ students into taking the new T-levels. In a joint letter to the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, the group says the Department for Education (DfE) has broken earlier pledges that only a small percentage of the applied qualifications would have their funding cut off and replaced by T-levels. By Richard Adams, The Guardian.

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