• Head teachers react to Michael Gove's open invitation for them to become academies. Particular concern is around new moves to allow primary schools to become academies. As academies are not accountable to local authorities, Gove has said that greater emphasis will be put on monitoring exam results; they are also expected to have their original freedoms restored to them, as before Ed Balls changed their terms. Times
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• Yesterday, Gove commented that he expected the majority of schools to become academies in the near future. His plans represent the biggest change to England's school structure since grammars and secondary moderns were encouraged to become comprehensives in the 1960s. Under Gove, top schools will no longer need a sponsor to become an academy. Guardian
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• Times Education correspondent Jo Sugden explains the difference between academies and local authority maintained schools. Times


• 308,800 state school teachers were signed off sick in 2009, amounting to 56% of the workforce. The average teacher missed around 8.7 days. This follows claims by teachers' unions that staff are struggling to count under a mounting workload which sees a secondary school teacher work around 60 hours a week. Telegraph


• A longstanding tournament between schools in the Scottish borders has been reinstated due to parent pressure after sports development officers at the local council cancelled it. The officers were concerned that the primary school children on the losing teams would suffer 'low self-esteem'. Times


• The mayoral office City Hall has a scheme where all staff are given three days off a year to commit to volunteering. Boris Johnson has called on business leaders to offer their employees the same and spent half an hour at a London secondary school teaching Latin and classics to promote the scheme. This comes as Oona King begins her bid to stand as Labour's candidate for the mayorship in 2012. Times

• Vince Cable has commented that he was 'very taken aback' at the news that the salaries of university heads rose by almost 11% this year. He said that the scale of pay rises 'bore no relation to the underlying economics of the country' and is to write to the head of every university and college encouraging them to do 'more with less'. Telegraph


• The number of applicants not getting a place at university is likely to have doubled in two years, as university leaders forecast that 250,000 will miss out on a place for this September. More than 40,000 applicants were thought to also have applied last year. The full breakdown of applications is due in July. BBC


• Up to a third of England's 350 colleges may have to merge or work far more closely together to survive warns the head of the 157 Group of large, high-performing colleges. She cited a KPMG report which found 100 to be potentially too fragile to survive amid cuts and said mergers could offer the economies of scale to assure their survival. BBC


• Lancaster University has soared up the Times Good University Guide league tables to make it from 23rd place last year to 10th this year. Factors crucial to its rise were the extra £300 spent per student (bringing the total to £1,746), 78% graduate employment, and 80% graduate satisfaction. Times


• Only a quarter of students graduating in arts and the humanities are preparing to find work in graduate professions. A third of students across all subjects will take 'any job they are offered' including low paid work in supermarkets and bars, while 26% will remain in further study. Telegraph

• Iain Duncan Smith is to get rid of the statutory retirement age and consider linking retirement age to life expectancy. He has also asked officials to explore the possibility of replacing 51 benefits - from disability to housing - with a single flexible benefit for those of working age and will establish a 'poverty audit' to analyse the problem. Times
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• Amid the figures that show we're postponing motherhood longer than ever, Lucy Atkins asks just when is the best time to have children? Guardian
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• Fewer schoolchildren are drinking excessively - 48% of 11-15 year olds have never had an alcohol drink, compared to 39% in 2003. However, fatalities caused by alcohol-related conditions continue to rise - liver disease by 24% since 2001 and prescriptions to treat alcoholism up by 12%. A stark geographical split emerges, binge drinking is at its highest in Yorkshire and the North West. Guardian
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