• Michael Gove has set out the government's plan for 'free schools' on the day parents can begin applying to set them up. There is a proposal form, in which applicants set out the aims and objectives of the institution, an outline of the curriculum, potential locations and evidence of demand from parents. He called them 'schools of choice', free from bureaucracy - the first ones would open in September next year. Guardian


• The Catholic Education Service for England and Wales has advised more than 2,000 secondary and primary schools to exercise 'great caution' in responding to Gove's invitation for schools to transfer to academy status. Under the proposals, schools' land and property would be transferred to new academy trusts, and dioceses and religious Trustees would be unlikely to allow this transfer of assets. 70% of those schools rated 'Outstanding' have made enquiries about academy status. Telegraph


• David Miliband has called for the government to withdraw a £100m taxpayer subsidy to private schools as part of the deficit reduction programme. Under the Charities Act, independent schools and private hospitals are given charitable status in return for providing public benefit. It is permissible for them to charge fees to the public to access its facilities as long as there is, on balance, an effort to help poor and local people. The tax relief approximates to £225 per child per year. Guardian


• Mary Riddell and Toby Young debate what the introduction of academies will do to remedy the fact that half of England's schools are not providing their pupils with a good education. Riddell worries that taking local authorities out of the picture will result in a 'wasteful, over-costly system in which no one will have an overview of how schools are performing relative to one another'. Young states that LA planning has already failed parents and schools, and that competition will raise standards. Telegraph


• A Danish study has shown how class size affects the results pupils achieve when they finish compulsory education. Pupils taught in a class of five to six scored an average of 8 out of 13; those in a group of 15 or 16 scored 7.8. The benefit of being taught in a small group was particularly pronounced among boys. Earlier this year, it was disclosed that at least 210 British state schools were regularly teaching pupils in classes of 41 or more. Telegraph


• Private schools have been accused of catering only for the super-rich, after it is shown that their fees over the past two decades have risen almost three times faster than the average income. Fees increased 83% after inflation between 1992 and 2008, while the average income for a family rose by 30%. Children with a privately educated parent were three times as likely to go to private school than those whose parents had attended state schools - the cost of a private school and quality of state schools has little effect on whether parents choose a private school for their child. Guardian


• Headmistress of Cheltenham Ladies' College is to take up a new role in Geneva after being made to feel 'immoral' for operating a paid-for school in England. She commented that 'many of us in the independent sector work very hard and feel at times we have to apologise for what we're doing'. Telegraph


• Two history teachers write to correct Niall Ferguson's understanding of the history curriculum, to argue that is taught through a combination of 'overview, thematic and depth studies' rather than being the broken 'smorgasbord' of topics he described. They ask Michael Gove to consult them instead. Guardian


• Director of the thinktank Politeia muses on how, if he is to liberalise the curriculum, Gove will have to take on Whitehall. The institute seeks to give Latin equal status with other foreign languages, but fears that more than an announcement in favour of this is required, squeezing in teaching is not a real choice unless there are teachers and funds set aside. Guardian


• A teacher who gives free English classes to asylum seekers in Glasgow talks about his motivations and challenges. Telegraph

• Sir Menzies Campbell has said that he expects fellow Lib Dem MPs could be 'emboldened' to follow him in voting against the expected tuition fee increases, despite the coalition agreement allowing them to abstain only. He said if he were to renegade on his promise to block higher tuition fees, he would lose all credibility and that colleagues had 'informal sympathy' with this view. Telegraph

• The coalition yesterday froze or cancelled £10.5bn of projects announced in the last days of the Labour government. This included free swimming for children and pensioners, an £80bn loan to Sheffield Forgemasters, the £450m North Tees and Hartlepool hospital building project, £1bn of programmes to help the unemployed, a libraries modernisation scheme, £25m contribution to the Stonehenge. £995m will be saved by cutting the Future Jobs Fund, extension of the Young Person's Guarantee and the two year Jobseekers Guarantee. Guardian


• Clegg has described the current system of tax credits, under which 90% of families are available for payments, as 'madness'. Under Labour, families earning up to £60,000 were entitled to the benefit. The Lib Dems hoped to cut all payments to families with a combined income of over £25,500, while the Tories entered the election saying they would scrap tax credits for households with incomes over £50,000 and scale them back for incomes of more than £40,000. Next week's budget is likely to implement a regime closer to the Lib Dem stance. Mail


• A Guardian Editorial inspects the government's line on family policy: the task force on the family, marriage tax cuts, redirecting money from the questionable benefits of child trust funds into respite care for families with disabled children. Guardian


• Findings released by the Children's Society to coincide with Father's Day show that children who speak to their father regularly rate their happiness levels as higher than those who don't. Those who speak to dad most days gave themselves an 87% score on the happiness scale compared to those who hardly ever talk to their fathers (79%). Nearly half of the 1,200 youngsters said they 'hardly ever' speak to their fathers about important issues. Mail


• The Scottish government has pledged £1.8m towards tackling slum housing in Glasgow, where a sudden increase in population has created overpopulation and allowed rogue landlords to flourish. BBC

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