Cribsheet 07.02.11

How should schools feed inquiring minds?

And so the education diet begins. The Russell Group has stepped forward, like some Gillian MacKeith of the brain, and decreed that the optimum nutrition for the formation of buoyant little grey cells is science and maths, alongside portions of history, geography and languages, dead or alive.

The empty carbs of art, media studies, music technology and IT are not fit for the education elite. What's more, the private schools have always known this. It's just the state schools, at the mercy of ministerial whim, that have allowed a generation of misguided children to believe they ought to study what they are interested in.

So far, so very Michael Gove. And today we hear from Jessica Shepherd that panic-stricken state schools are flushing out art, music, design and technology and religious education, and are putting their students on a strict regime of the wholesome subjects the education secretary has personally approved - science, maths, English, a foreign language and a humanity.

And what will be made of Darren Henley's report today on music education? Jeevan Vasagar will report a little later, but I suspect music's headed straight for the dessert table, to be savoured cautiously on special occasions.

Here's what Michael Gove says this morning, as the government pledges to keep music funding at the same level as last year:

"Music has the power to touch the soul. It is a universal language understood by people of every culture and it gives us all the chance to be transported by beauty."

Now bring in the brandy and cigars.

More education news from the Guardian and Observer

• Top universities are poised to charge undergraduates the maximum fee of £9,000 a year from next September, according to Michael Arthur, the chairman of the Russell Group of elite institutions. Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat appointed by the coalition to advise on fair access, is still insisting that he wants the majority of universities to stick to the minimum level of £6,000.

"They will no doubt make the case that they need more than £6,000. That doesn't mean, of course, that they all have to charge £9,000."

• Melissa Benn and Toby Young have argued out the free schools issue - and it all got rather heated:

TY: As I understand it, you would like there to be very little diversity – ideally there would be no independent schools, no faith schools, no grammars, no academies, certainly no free schools. There would just be one-size-fits-all comprehensives to which all parents would send their children?

MB: No! I think there should be more choice within schools and less choice between schools. You say you want diversity and list independent schools and grammars as part of diverse provision, but that's not diversity! That's what leading educational administrator Tim Brighouse called a "dizzying hierarchy". What I am against is unfairness.

TY: I think we have a common aim, which is to reduce unfairness in the present system. Your solution is to reduce choice, mine is to increase it.

MB: It's not some kind of Stalinist nightmare to provide a good local school.

• Employers say apprentices are better value than graduates, according to a City & Guilds poll of 500 bosses.

But as @ShaneChowen points out:

"7% of employers in North East take on and train apprentices. One of highest performing regions at only 7%!!"

• The pupil premium, a plan to give schools extra money for every child they take from the poorest homes, could backfire and widen the funding gap between deprived and rich parts of the country, councils have warned.

• School reports used to say what they meant. Now they're so wishy-washy, writes Edward Collier.

Education news from around the web

• The BBC has a story about parents claiming their children have ADHD in order to qualify for disability benefits. The allegation is being made by unnamed heads and teachers who say children are needlessly being put on Ritalin.

• The BBC is also covering the row over the funding of free schools, with details of promises made to some schools for new buildings.

• Matthew d'Ancona, in the Telegraph, says Nick Clegg is about to stir things up with an insistence that universities to more to widen access. He's due to "flesh out" the National Scholarship Programme, the £150 million sweetener scheme that will enable brighter children from deprived backgrounds to have their fees paid for up to two years.

• The blogger Guerillamum is calling for a big response to a consultation launched this week on specialist services for children with Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia (DVD):

"It is nice to think about the King receiving speech therapy to overcome his stammer, but what about the rest of us? I urge everyone, parents, teachers, medical professionals and the wider public to respond to this consultation. We can't afford not to do so!"

• The THE has a funny cartoon about how long it takes to do a doctorate.

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.