Cribsheet 01.02.11

Which A-level subjects do universities rate?

Picking A-level subjects just got a whole lot more complicated. With a record number of applicants chasing ever fewer university places - and a rise in tuition fees round the corner - getting the choice right is crucial.

What a shame you're only 15 or 16 when you have to make it. And how frustrating that universities are so vague about what they'd like you to do.

Lucy Tobin has been talking to those faced with making their subject choice right now. Amanda, who's been poring over university websites, told her:

"It's hard for us to know exactly what universities want from us."

Teacher Sarah Snaydon said:

"Universities are getting ever so picky, but worse than that is that the requirements are constantly changing and tough to find out."

So Education Guardian set out to discover what universities really want from A-level students - and here are the results of that survey.

Janet Murray reports that many universities are increasingly side-stepping the whole A-level issue altogether by setting admissions tests for subjects such as maths. Fail the maths Step exams, and you lose out on a whole group of top universities, regardless of how many As you have.

It's a particularly daunting prospect for students from disadvantaged families whose parents cannot help them navigate the system. A press officer at Warwick was unmoved by that argument:

"We are dealing with young adults here. If you want to do maths, Cambridge and Warwick are the best places in the country.

So if you want to be part of that, if you want to be taught by the brightest and best academics in the country, it requires some effort on your part, in terms of finding out what you need to do to get there."

More education news from the Guardian

• Artworks by the inmates of Feltham Young Offenders Institution are going on display at the National Gallery. The organisers, who point to the rehabilitative power of art, fear exhibitions like this are under threat. Take a look at our gallery of the work on show.

• College principals say they fear becoming A-level factories, as funds for pastoral care and extra-curricular activities are slashed. Andrew Mourant says most of all they are concerned about how the cuts will widen the gulf between privileged and disadvantaged students.

• Susanna Rustin found out that a free school was about to open 100 yards from her house in a recent newsletter from a local councillor. Her neighbours knew nothing about it. What happened to Michael Gove's promises of consultation with local parents?

• What do academics of a certain age do when they get made redundant? Liz Mayor, a classics lecturer who lost her job at Cardiff University at 54, set up a company and feels "in charge of my own destiny".

• Girls learn better in warm classrooms, Michele Hanson discovers. How are schools supposed to cater for that?

Education news from around the web

• Good piece from David Cohen in the London Evening Standard about the "secrets of the superheads". We find out what strategies they employed to turn around failing schools - and how much they got paid for doing so.

• The Telegraph is still on about teacher training, with a story about funding only being available to train students with 2:2s or above and an editorial about how important it is to upgrade teacher quality.

@xtophercook tweets:

"Biggest cuts in teacher training places for next year fall on PE, RE, art, music... First they're not in the EBacc, and now..."

• And the Mail has the story of a 10-year-old schoolboy who's getting help with his science project from Nasa. Young Christopher Allan said: "I'm over the moon."

Views in the Guardian

Peter Scott: The new fees regime is fast approaching and universities still have no idea where to aim the political football of higher education.

Don Nutbeam: Postgraduates needs loans too, or we'll find only overseas students can afford to do master's degrees here.

Research on the wild side

How do lions respond when they hear other lions roar? To find out, researchers schlepped recording equipment, loudspeakers, and some cautiously acquired lion sounds from Minnesota to Tanzania and settled back to watch the fun. Improbable Research has the full story.

The lions may have been fooled, but it'd be hard to hoodwink the New Caledonian crow, which is something of a brainbox. Scientists from New Zealand and Oxford set some crows a three-stage task:

"They had to get a short stick by pulling up a string, use that stick to winkle out a long stick from a toolbox, and then use the long stick to extract food from a hole. They managed it successfully."

Insight into journalism seminars for teachers

A unique opportunity for teachers to spend a day at the Guardian, find out how a national news media organisation works and get ideas and resources that can be used in the classroom.

News 11 March Learn about the 24 news cycle; meet news reporters, feature writers, picture and sub editors; understand the role newspaper advertising; go on a tour of the editorial floors and take part in a workshop creating you own news front page which will be evaluated by an editor.

Multimedia 31 March Writing for a news website, web editing, blogging, the use of social media, video production; podcasting.

Places are limited and likely to fill up quickly, so book soon.

Competition

Children aged between seven and 14 can now enter the Young Human Rights reporter of the year competition, run by learnnewsdesk, the Guardian's online news service for schools, and Amnesty International. A winner and two runners-up in the primary and secondary school categories will win a trip to Amnesty International and the Guardian headquarters in London as well as an MP3 recorder. The closing date for entries is 14 February.