Students could be offered two paid 20-week internships and double the teaching hours at colleges under government plans to tackle youth unemployment. iNews reports Alan Milburn, the author of a landmark review into NEETs (young people not in education, employment or training), examined these aspects of the Dutch education system on a "fact-finding" visit to the country last month. The Netherlands has one of the lowest NEET rates in the world; 4.9 per cent compared with the UK's 15.1 per cent. By Alexa Phillips. 

Alan Milburn has called for smartphones to be locked away in all schools to help prevent more teenagers joining the youth unemployment crisis. Speaking to iNews, he said: "A phone-free school day has to mean exactly that – more restrictive measures, not teachers left to police it alone. We will have failed younger people if we allow them to stay on their phones, sleep badly, become more anxious, and miss out on critical years in their development at school." By Vicky Spratt.

The latest findings of the Review of Mathematical Education, now in its second year, suggest girls become more anxious about maths as they move through secondary school. When asked whether they often worry maths will be difficult for them, 58 per cent of Year 8 girls agreed, compared with 41 per cent of boys the same age. In Year 13, 68 per cent of boys had a high or somewhat high confidence score in maths, and this was the case for just 54 per cent of girls. By Esmé Kenney, Schools Week. 

Children who have more opportunity for outdoor, adventurous play tend to have better physical and mental health, along with improved social and cognitive development, according to the largest ever international study of risky play. The research paper warns that risky play, defined as "thrilling and exciting" activities, is now less prevalent as society becomes more risk-averse and screen-centric. By Sanchez Manning, The Times.

In a letter to The Telegraph, Dr Millan Sachania, head of Halliford School, supports Dame Elaine Paige in calling for music to be compulsory in schools. "Music not only complements the academic curriculum but also intersects with it," he explains, adding that ministers "would do well to value a subject that engages the mind so rigorously while deepening our understanding of what it is to be human". The letter appears halfway down the page.

Writing to The Times, Dr Dominic Luckett, former headmaster at Mill Hill School and Sherborne School, rejects proposals for a four-day working week for teachers, saying: "There is a benefit to pupils when lessons in their various subjects are spread sensibly throughout the week, something that is much less possible when timetabling has to be managed around restricted teacher availability." The letter appears halfway down the page. An article in The Times features comments from Gráinne Hallahan, head of community at Teacher Tapp, who claims teachers do not want to work a four-day week and would rather be able to take more holiday during term time: "If we reduce the working week to four days, but expect you to do the same amount of work just over a fewer number of days, that probably isn’t as appealing to teachers as you might think it would be." By Geraldine Scott.

Rose, Mae, Aylin and Willow, 14- and 15-year-old students, write in The Guardian about their campaign to ban school uniform from pornographic content. "No 12-year-old should feel uncomfortable about going to school in a uniform that is designed to promote unity and community and safety. Yet we did," they write. "The only people who should be wearing school uniform are children."

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