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Channel: Education: Mortarboard blog | guardian.co.uk

Who sends their sick child to school?

Half of parents admit they make their kids go to school even if they're not feeling well, according to a new study. Do you?

Half of Britain's parents admit they send their children to school when they are unwell ? a fifth even do so when they have a contagious illness.In fact, not even full-blown fever, diarrhoea and vomiting will stop some mums and dads packing their little darlings off to lessons, according to a report today from the private medical insurer Bupa.

As the new school year begins, Bupa's research shows parents are unsure which illnesses are unacceptable at school or nursery. Six out of 10 would keep their children home if they had conjunctivitis ? not strictly necessary ? but, worryingly, one in seven would send them in with diarrhoea.

Bupa's How Are You Britain? report reveals that 13% of parents believe vomiting is no reason to keep a child at home.

Many of us, as working parents, have been there. We've felt the stab of irritation at the prospect of having to stay at home and juggle working with caring for a sick child, only to witness a Lazarus-like recovery once the call to the school is made and the TV is switched on. It makes you think twice the next time a temperature is slightly raised and you hear the tearful cry: "But Mummy, I'm too ill to go to school!"

The pressure from schools to keep pupil absence levels as low as possible and the drag of having to catch up missed work may also be factors driving parents to insist their sick children turn up at the school gate.

Not surprisingly, the number one reason cited by two-thirds of parents for sending poorly kids to school was the belief they would start to perk up once there, followed by one in five not having other childcare options, and then work commitments (18 %).

Bupa health and wellbeing director, Dr Annabel Bentley, said: "Parents should keep children with vomiting and diarrhoea off school or nursery for 48 hours to protect other children's health. For conjunctivitis, which is usually viral, medical guidance is that a child can go to school or nursery."

What is your experience, either as a parent or a teacher or even both? Are parents acting selfishly and should they think much harder about the ramifications of despatching a sick child to school?

GCSE results 2010 ? live blog

? GCSE pass rate rises for 23rd year running
? Seven in 10 entries receive C grade or above
? More than one in five achieve A or A*
? Numbers taking French and German drop
? Numbers taking separate science exams rise
? Click here for all the headline figures
? Confused about your results? Click here for advice from our expert clinic

7.45am: Good morning and welcome to this year's GCSE results live blog. All day today we'll be bringing you results from around the country, the latest news from the front line in the battle of the sexes, the political fallout, your success stories ? whether you're a student or a teacher ? and the Guardian's exclusive tables listing GCSE results from schools across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Foundation and higher diploma results are also out today, and we'll be giving you details of those, too.

But it's Tuesday, you may be thinking. Aren't GCSE results usually out on a Thursday? Yes, they are. But not this year. The Joint Council for Qualifications explains why in a not-very-illuminating statement:

Earlier this year the regulators and departmental officials for England, Wales and Northern Ireland recommended that all GCSE candidates should receive their results at the same time. In light of this recommendation, it was collectively agreed that Tuesday 24 August 2010 would be the date for the publication of GCSE results. This date will enable all candidates in the UK to receive their GCSE results before returning to school or college for the autumn term
2010.

Please email me at paul.owen@guardian.co.uk with your stories and photos, send me a message on Twitter (twitter.com/PaulTOwen), or add a comment below.

And most importantly ? good luck ...

7.52am: Last year the coursework assessment was dropped from maths, leading to boys outperforming girls for the first time since 1997. This year it has been dropped for many subjects, and replaced by work done under exam conditions. In today's Guardian, Lucy Tobin asks if that means boys will close the gap in those areas too.

If boys start outperforming girls at GCSE, it will also have repercussions for higher education. The Hepi report [a report from the Higher Education Policy Institute] suggested that the switch away from exam-only qualifications had led to women's dominance at university, where women now outperform men on almost every higher education indicator, and in most degree subjects. If boys start doing better at GCSE than girls, in the long term, female participation and performance in higher education could also decline.

We are also expecting to see last year's rise in science and decline in languages continue today. We will hopefully have the first results around 9.30am.

8.08am: This year is expected to be another record year for results, with experts predicting that almost seven out of 10 papers could be awarded a C grade or higher, according to the Press Association news agency. If the A*-C pass rate rises again today, it will be the 23rd year in a row it has done so.

Last year 7.1% of entries gained an A* ? more than double the proportion receiving the top grade when it was introduced in 1994 ? and 67.1% received a C or above. More than a fifth (21.6%) received an A or A*.

More than 750,000 young people will receive results today.

There was some criticism of the exam system from unions this morning.

John Bangs of the National Union of Teachers said GCSEs were the best qualifications on offer, but they could be better. "I think the commitment to review qualifications in 2013 is something that should be maintained," he said.

There are concerns that the introduction of other qualifications, such as international GCSEs, could lead to a "two-tier system", he added.

Nansi Ellis of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers claimed that the exam system was in "disarray". She told the Press Association:

It consistently fails the 40% of young people who do not get five good GCSE passes and leave school feeling failures. But even those who achieve a string of A*s are not well served by GCSEs; they are taught to pass tests, rather than encouraged to learn skills and leave bored by endless testing. And crucially our exam-obsessed system is not designed to develop the softer skills, such as creativity, initiative, problem-solving, reasoning, and team-working, that young people need for higher education, work and their future lives.

8.09am: In the end we did a good job on the A-level results blog last week of getting a wide spectrum of photos of celebrating students from around the country ? girls, boys, blonde, not so blonde.

Send your pictures of today's celebrations to paul.owen@guardian.co.uk, and let's see if we can do the same again here.

In the interests of full disclosure, here's my own GCSE results picture, from 15 long years ago... As you can see, I fitted the stereotype perfectly with my cascading waves of long golden hair. Those were the days.

8.30am: Also in today's Guardian:

? Rachel Williams and Jessica Shepherd's front page story raises the prospect of A-level students who failed to get a university place turning to apprenticeships and qualifications such as BTec and HND, squeezing out pupils who have just got their GCSEs.

More than a quarter of students who applied to university still have no place and vacancies are fading fast, figures revealed yesterday. Some 187,488 applicants were still searching in clearing, according to the university admissions service, Ucas. At the same time last year the number was 141,130. Only 18,000 courses are thought to still have vacancies, compared with 32,000 in 2009, and at a number of universities many of the places are reserved for foreign students.

? In the EducationGuardian supplement, Estelle Morris, the former Labour education secretary, worries that the coalition's cuts will mean that the problems schools and colleges faced this year because of a lack of university places may be repeated in the years to come. Morris asks:

Where are the plans to deal with the consequences? How will the government make sure young people continue to believe that education can make a difference? ... The government must show it understands that cutting back on essential education and training is a false economy (as it stands, education and skills training are not protected from cuts). The coalition must make the argument that government and industry investment in skills and knowledge is an essential part of a return to economic good health.

8.38am: If you've got your results and you feel confused about what to do next, we have an advice clinic running this afternoon from 2pm-4pm where three experts will be online to help guide you through what to do next. You can add comments and questions on there now ? just click here.

9.12am: The BBC News channel is busy encouraging some unfortunate children to open their results live on TV. One girl in Port Talbot, south Wales, looks at hers and says happily: "I'm absolutely landed," to some confusion from the presenter. I think that means chuffed, doesn't it?

9.30am: The results are through, and here are the headlines:

? The GCSE pass rate has gone up for the 23rd year running.

? Nearly seven in 10 entries (69.1%) received at least a C grade ? up two percentage points from 2009.

? More than one in five (22.6%) entries achieved an A or A* ? up one point from last year.

? The numbers taking French and German have dropped again.

? The numbers taking separate science exams ? biology, chemistry and physics ? have risen again, although the proportion being awarded top grades has fallen.

? The English pass rate (C or above) rose this year, after dropping in 2009. Almost two-thirds (64.7%) of English entries gained at least a C grade, up from 62.7% in 2009.

? In maths, 58.4% of entries received a C (57.% in 2009). Boys outperformed girls for the second year in a row (but not by much): 58.6% of boys' entries scored C or above, compared with 58.3% for girls.

? Girls continued to do better than boys overall. More than seven in 10 (72.6%) of girls' GCSE entries gained at least a C compared with 65.4% of boys.

? The overall number of entries dipped again ? there were more than 5.37 million, compared with 5.47 million in 2009.

9.33am: The director of the Joint Council for Qualifications, Jim Sinclair, said:

Students and their teachers can be proud of their achievements. The increased entries in biology, chemistry and physics, coupled with improved performance in English and mathematics, is very good news indeed.

9.33am: The Labour government changed the rules in 2004 so that modern languages were no longer compulsory after age 14, and since then the numbers taking the subjects have suffered a decline. Today's results show that French entries are down by 5.9%, and entries for German have dropped by 4.5% ? although Spanish is up by 0.9%.

Some less traditional languages are also up: Chinese (up 5.2%), Portuguese (up 9.6%), and Polish (up 12%).

Despite a 11,070 drop in the numbers taking French, the language is still the most popular choice, with 177,618 students taking the exam this year. The proportion gaining a C or above had risen slightly, from 70.1% to 71.9%.

Andrew Hall, the chief executive of the AQA exam board, said today was a good day for science but "quite a sad day for languages". He said the numbers taking French at GCSE had halved since 2002 and it was the first time "in living memory" that the subject was not in the top 10 most popular subjects. Hall, who has a background in engineering, said languages were still important for business although English was spoken widely.

"You do need to be able to communicate with people in their own country in their own language," he said. Hall said the rise in Polish entries seemed to be due to a rising number of native speakers in the UK.

Ziggy Liaquat, the managing director of the Edexcel exam board, said it was disappointing to see "the decrease of languages". He said knowledge of languages was very important in the global market. "There is a conversation to be had about how we do make languages more engaging, more interesting, more relevant for young people."

9.38am: My colleague Jeevan Vasagar has written about the GCSE results here.

He predicts that the trend of girls outperforming boys in exams, which has lasted for the past two decades, could be reversed next year due to the decision to drop coursework.

The proportion of boys getting grades A* to C in maths rose again this year from 57.6% to 58.6%. The proportion of girls passing also rose, from 56.8% to 58.3%. Boys also did better than girls in biology, where the male pass rate was 93% compared with 92.7%, and in physics, where 93.9% of boys passed compared with 93.4% of girls. Economics also saw a higher pass rate for boys, though only around 3,000 candidates of either sex entered.

9.44am: My colleague Jessica Shepherd has written about the big rise in entries for biology, physics and chemistry. Entries for chemistry and physics rose by 32%, while those for biology grew by 28%.

Jessica writes:

The rise in sciences may reflect some universities' preference for separate sciences. It also continues a trend seen last week in the A-level results, where students were said to be trying to recession-proof themselves by shunning so-called soft subjects in favour of science, economics and maths.

10.03am: Nick Gibb, the schools minister, was just speaking to BBC News and I caught most of it. He congratulated all the students receiving their GCSE results today.

It takes an enormous amount of work to achieve a good grade today. Our concern is about the attainment gap between the poorest and wealthiest areas. That's why, as a government, we want to boost the academies programme ... If you look at children who qualify for free school meals, only 3.9% have been entered for the separate sciences. So there's an example of ... lack of opportunity ... We want to make sure all children, regardless of their background, get the option to study, for example, the separate sciences.

Asked what impact the government's budget cuts would have on pupils passing GCSEs today, he said:

We're increasing the number of apprenticeships by 50,000 ... The demand this year is higher than [previous years] and that's because of the difficult state of the economy. It's always very competitive every year.

But he said the guarantee was still in place that anyone who got good enough grades would get a place "at a sixth form college or a college".

Asked if universities were looking at GCSEs as well as A-levels when considering places today, Gibb said: "That's always been the case. I don't think there's anything new this year compared to previous years."

10.12am: Some schools have started to get in touch. Philippa Jones (left), of Badminton school, an independent school in Bristol, gained 9 A*s. The school received its best GCSE results for some years today.

10.19am: Campsmount technology college, a comprehensive in Doncaster, was almost totally destroyed by a fire in December. But today students there recorded some of their best ever results, the Press Association is reporting.

Writing on the school's website, Andy Sprakes, the headteacher, said:

Today's GCSE results are breathtaking considering our turbulent year. 95% of Y11 students gained five A*-C GCSE grades ? another record- breaking year! ... To gain so much success in a period of such adversity is an amazing achievement.

The gym, library and a number of classrooms were saved in the fire ? which was tackled by more than 60 firefighters ? but the rest of the school was ruined. Mobile buildings were later erected on the site as a temporary school was built. Last week the school also achieved excellent A-level results, with the average points score for the pupils increasing from 652 last year to 709 this year.

10.31am: Christine Blower of the National Union of Teachers has called today's results "a massive vote of confidence in young people and their teachers". But she attacked the previous government's decision to drop modern languages from the list of compulsory subjects after age 14 and urged the coalition "to come up with a coherent policy for ensuring that all young people acquire at least one modern foreign language".

Blower said:

The continuing improvement in results in the sciences, and English and mathematics demonstrates the high quality and effectiveness of comprehensive education. Yet again, of real concern is the decline in the study of modern foreign languages, particularly French and German. This was reflected in last week's A-level results. I find it extraordinary that French which has for so long been core to the secondary curriculum should now have dropped out of the top 10 GCSEs taken by young people.

10.36am: The Institution of Engineering and Technology has been in touch to warn of a "technology skills gap", with "insufficient" numbers of young people studying such subjects. The IET believes this is liable to cause "damage" to the UK economy.

Paul Davies of the IET said: "Unless we see a dramatic change in the number of young people progressing into STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] courses and then careers, the UK will struggle to deliver the new technology and infrastructure needed for a green economy."

10.39am: The City of London school for girls, an independent school in the Barbican in central London, has emailed to say that 97.8% of its entries received an A or an A*. The headteacher, Diana Vernon, said: "Such results are not achieved without a considerable amount of hard work and I congratulate the girls, and their teachers, on their academic achievements."

10.50am: Click here for full details of all the GCSE results released today.

10.56am: The Institute for Directors is also worried about a skills gap ? this time in literacy and numeracy. Far from repeating the common complaint that too many students are passing GCSEs, Miles Templesman, the IoD's director-general, says not enough are:

The fact that we have a system where we can expect little more than half of pupils to achieve the benchmark of five good GCSEs including English and maths is a fundamental problem. The government has set out a bold reform programme to introduce more competition in education; the fruits of this cannot come soon enough.

11.01am: The Harris Federation, which sponsors nine city academies in south London, has been in touch to hail impressive results in what it describes as some of south London's most challenging schools. Dan Moynihan, the federation's chief executive, said: "We've had a stunning set of results this year, with an average improvement of 10 percentage points ... Our largest improvement was at Harris Academy Falconwood, where two years ago only 17% of students got the national benchmark of five A*-C grades including English and maths. This year, that figure stands at 60%. Harris Academy South Norwood also saw a large jump, from 43% to 61%. And, within just one year of opening, results at Harris Academy Purley have gone from 33% to 47%."

11.12am: Oli Tomlinson, the headteacher of Paddington Academy in London, has emailed to celebrate his school's best ever GCSE results. The number of students achieving five or more A*-C grades including English and maths increased from 34% in 2009 to 62% today.

Meanwhile, at Barnsley Academy in South Yorkshire, the number of students achieving five or more A*-Cs including English and maths almost trebled, from 19% to 51%. Dave Berry, the headteacher, said: "We are absolutely thrilled with this improvement. Staff and students have worked exceptionally hard over the past year and today's results are proof of that."

11.20am: My colleague Martin Wainwright, the Guardian's northern editor, emails with news from Leeds.

They've done well at Leeds West Academy ? part of the city that produced Alan Bennett, Barbara Taylor Bradford and the Beardselyesque cartoonist Phil May. The number of students gaining 5+ A*-C GCSEs has gone from 12% to 67%. The number of students with 5+ GCSEs with English and maths is up to 37% from 30% last year. So room for more progress. School principal Annette Hall says: "The commitment and effort put in by our staff and students has been phenomenal. We've turned round a culture of low expectation to one of high expectation and a belief in each individual's potential. I am particularly pleased that in our first year with English as a specialist subject, 64% of students achieved a C or above which is absolutely spectacular. Parents and the community are also seeing the change and giving us more and more support as we set high standards for all. Ultimately though it's the students who reap the rewards."

Other stuff from E-ACT, the organisation that sponsors Leeds West Academy and several other schools around the country: in London, students at schools previously reported to be the worst performing in the capital, made major progress. At Crest Boys' Academy the number achieving five GCSEs at A*-C with English and maths rose from 22% to 45%. In Birmingham, where E-ACT sponsors three academies, results were also up on last year. Heartlands Academy jumped from 40% to 48% GCSEs A*-C with English and maths.

E-ACT stands for Edutrust Academies Charitable Trust. It was initially founded by the ex-Tanzanian businessman Lord Bhatia, and has raised funds from a range of sponsors for those eight academies, so is one of the biggest multi-school sponsor organisations in the academy world. The director general is former headteacher Sir Bruce Liddington, who is also a former schools commissioner for England.

11.44am: Ed Balls, the shadow schools secretary and Labour leadership contender, has posted about today's GCSE results on his campaign website. As mentioned earlier (10.03am), Nick Gibb, the schools secretary, has guaranteed a place at college for every school leaver, this year, but Balls predicted that this guarantee would disappear for future years in George Osborne's spending review in October. Balls wrote:

The coalition has refused to match Labour's guarantee of a sixth form, college or training place for every school leaver and has slashed the youth jobs fund too. While I secured the funding to expand places for the next three years, the new education secretary has lost that battle with the chancellor. We don't yet know how big the cuts will be from next year, but this looks set to be the last summer for the school leavers guarantee before the cuts bite. Michael Gove must come clean on the scale of cuts he is planning for next year and give young people about to start a two-year course a firm assurance that their place will not be taken away after the first year.

11.52am: My colleague Michael White asks why A-level and GCSE results are now front-page news. They never used to be, he says. What's changed?

There are two obvious responses, both essentially tied to economics rather than the inherent value of education as such or the ever-popular subplot about the merits of media studies unearthed in an alarmist report today from the right-leaning Civitas thinktank. One is that, in an ever-smarter world in which unskilled manual jobs such as digging fields or sweeping pavement shrink by the day, all but the most myopic, burger-munching parents vaguely sense that getting their kids an education is even more urgent than bequeathing them a weight problem ...

The second focus ? not emphasised sufficiently in the acres of media anguish over dumbed down/up A-level results ? is the very obvious point that higher education is a major export industry for post-industrial Britain, as it is even more so for the rapidly de-industrialising United States. It's worth many millions to the UK economy, plus intangibles such as networking and those creative people who come to research and stay.

12.03pm: This is a pdf of a number of interesting tables. It shows the numbers taking science and languages, and GCSE results organised by type of school, region, and gender.

12.22pm: For anyone wondering about diplomas, all the results can be found here.

Nick Gibb, the schools minister, said:

I also want to congratulate students who have achieved their foundation and higher diplomas today. There will be a place for the diploma as long as there is demand for it. It is for schools and students to decide whether it is the best qualification for them. That's why we have made it easier for schools to choose the diplomas they think are right for their students, rather than having to offer them in every subject. We want to strengthen vocational education so we will look carefully at how these qualifications are viewed by employers and universities.

1.34pm: Here's a gallery of students receiving their GCSE results.

1.51pm: Despite the increases in pupils studying physics, biology and chemistry as separate subjects, the CBI is protesting that too few pupils are taking all three science GCSEs. Richard Lambert, the business organisation's director-general, said:

Far too few students are given the option by schools to do triple science, and too few are taking it up even if it's available. Pupils, parents and teachers should know that triple science offers the best preparation for A-level science and a whole range of careers. No-one wants gifted young people to miss out on future opportunities because they leave science behind at GCSE.

The CBI said there was a large disparity between the numbers of comprehensive, grammar and private school pupils doing triple science. "Only 10% of comprehensive school pupils sit triple science GCSE ... while 57% do so in grammar schools and 33% do at private schools," a spokesperson said.

The CBI has a number of recommendations to improve the take-up of triple science, including the recruitment of more specialist science teachers, improved career advice, and an automatic opt-in to triple science for young people who achieve level six in their Sats at age 14.

1.52pm: Our live chat of GCSE advice is about to start in earnest. Click here to join in. Steph Berry, assistant headteacher of Walbottle Campus, Newcastle, Paul Ashdown, principal of the Sixth Form College, Solihull, and Andy Gardner, a careers adviser at the Institute of Career Guidance, have already started answering questions.

1.57pm: In the comments 210194sean has just asked for a shout out. He got 13 A*s, and went to Wirral grammar school for boys on Merseyside. Well done, Sean. The girls from Nonsuch high school in Cheam we featured below got the same. Can anyone beat that?

2.10pm: My colleague Jessica Shepherd has just filed an interesting story on the increasing numbers of pupils taking GCSEs before year 11.

Jessica writes:

Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, said the rise in the number of pupils taking the exams early suggested GCSEs were now too easy. "There is now a case for recalibrating the exams and putting in harder questions to distinguish between candidates," he said.

He said schools may also be "hot-housing" pupils, where those who are on the borderline between a C and a D grade may be submitted early for exams so that they are given several attempts at achieving a C grade. "Schools may believe that the more practice a pupil who is borderline has, the better," he said.

2.23pm: Looks like the Camerons have had a baby girl, while on their holiday in Cornwall. Congratulations. In sixteen years perhaps her GCSE results celebrations will be all over the papers ? although hopefully not in the same way as those of Tony Blair's son, Euan.

2.51pm: Congratulations too to the 3,069 students who were awarded a diploma today.

The diploma was introduced by the previous Labour government as a potential replacement for A-levels and GCSEs. A higher diploma is worth the equivalent of seven GCSEs at grades A* to C.

The results show that around 0.6% of completed diplomas were awarded an A*, 10.3% got at least an A and 93% were awarded at least a C. The rest were given a U grade, the Press Association news agency reported.

The most popular diplomas were media, which was completed by 884 students, and engineering, which was completed by 871 students.

Ziggy Liaquat, managing director of the Edexcel exam board, said:

What I would say is, when I talk to teachers and students, one of the things they say to me is the principle learning has real value, and is a strong part of the qualification offered. However, I think it's clear that achievement, completion rates are lower and that's a result of the complex nature of the diploma.

2.54pm: My colleague Katy Stoddard has written a post for the Datablog breaking down all the GCSE data out today by subject, school and gender.

3.26pm: I'll close this blog with today's best genius child story. A five-year-old from London has apparently become the youngest person every take GCSE maths. Dee Alli was five years and two months when she took the exam; the previous record-holder, Arran Fernandez, was five years 11 months when he took it. Dee, who got a C, goes to school in south London and also takes part in the privately funded Excellence in Education programme for inner-city children.

Dee's best friend, Paula Imafidon, who is also a child prodigy, said:

I kept telling my friends, mathematics is not hard, just try, and try again. Boys do not always get the answers right before girls. We girls, we think more but get the answers right the first time and show our working better.

3.31pm: Thanks for all your comments and well done everyone receiving your results to day. See you in two years for your A-levels...

27 August update: Some readers have questioned the veracity of Dee Alli's receiving a GCSE. After checking with the exam board, the Guardian is satisfied that Dee took and passed a GCSE in maths.

GCSE results 2010: Live advice

Post your GCSE dilemmas and queries for our exam experts

As GCSE results day approaches, nerves are high among students around the country.

Tomorrow will bring shrieks of joy as envelopes are ripped open, but also tears of frustration among those who haven't got the grades they expected.

Wondering whether to stay on at school? Not sure of your options? Or just want some reassurance?

Perhaps you want to study for something other than A-levels, go to college, or start an apprenticeship?

Our three experts will be online from 2pm-4pm tomorrow for our GCSE exam surgery. You can post your questions for them now.

Steph Berry is assistant headteacher of Walbottle Campus, Newcastle. Paul Ashdown is principal of The Sixth Form College, Solihull. Andy Gardner is a careers adviser at the Institute of Career Guidance.

Feel free also to share your stories of GCSE success, or to contribute any advice you may have to the discussion.

A-level results ? live blog

? Luke Sweeney with minute-by-minute coverage as A-level pass rate rises to 97.6%
? 8% get new A* grade, 27% get A
? Number of courses in clearing cut by half
? Ucas: 0871 468 0468 and ucas.ac.uk
? Find degree courses with clearing vacancies at clearing.ucas.com
? Read the day's summary

7.40am: Good morning everyone and welcome to the Guardian's all-singing, all-dancing A-level results live blog. It's a huge day for a lot of anxious students, teachers and parents out there today and we are here to keep you up-to-date with all the A-level news as it happens. We want to hear your stories: are you overjoyed with your results and have sailed into your first choice university? Have things not gone quite as planned? How has your school/sixth form college performed this year? Whatever trials and tribulations you are dealing with today ? we want to hear about them.

7.48am: One of the key issues that education professionals and policy makers will be looking out for today is what a difference the new A* grade has made. Louise Tickle takes a look at what it could mean for students under pressure to perform not just well but outstandingly.

7.58am: Amusingly, as we are looking for photographs of people receiving their results to beautify this blog -as yet we can only find pictures of girls. By some lucky twist of fate also all appear to be incredibly attractive! I knew A Level students were becoming cleverer by the year, but better looking too? And blonder? Lucky, lucky, Britain.

This is a classic of the genre, from last year sadly, but good enough to make it's way into today's blog.

Rebecca Thompson (left), 18, from Tyne and Wear, last year "celebrated" in the Central Newcastle High School for Girls library. In my day, celebrations would rarely manifest themselves in such a horizontal manner, but I accept that things have probably changed since 1952.

8.30am: Just how much pressure will the clearing system come under today? Around 170,000 people are expected to miss out on a place at university in England this autumn, with applications at a record high.

The threat of fewer jobs for school leavers this year encouraged more than 660,000 A-level students to apply, 12% more than last year.

Because universities have to adhere to a cap on the places they can offer, around 170,000 people are predicted to miss out this year compared with 100,000 who are rejected in a normal year.

8.37am: Interesting debate on the Today programme just now about whether today will mark a shift in the way we view going to university.

Diane Johnson, the president of the Electrical Contractors' Association, believes we are "sitting on a ticking timebomb" where people without degrees are treated as "second-class citizens".

She calls on the government to help businesses to offer more apprenticeships so that young workers can learn on the job:

They pay taxes and learn while they earn while paying taxes with money they are paid, it's win win for the goverment.

Aaron Porter of the National Union of Students says that there is a "parity of esteem issue over different qualifications" but a university education must be valued and that Britain's economic advantage in the future will lie in having a highly-skilled (ie university-educated?) workforce.

All evidence suggests that going to university continues to make "huge contribution" to business and the economy, he says.

Simon Woodruff, founder of Yo! Sushi, who didn't go to university, believes in the future there will be stronger links between businesses and industry. In the long term, business and industry will be involved in the local area, training more people coming into the world.

He doesn't wish he'd gone to uni incidentally; if anything he'd like to go back and become an actor.

8.49am: What to do if you haven't got your grades?

Our coverage today will help you every step along the way. By 11am we will have an idea of how many places are available and shortly after we'll be providing you with an interactive of all the clearing places around the country. This has information on fees, bursaries, accommodation, facilities and transport links.

I'll post this link again later.

We've also got a live Q&A between 2pm and 4pm today and tomorrow for advice about clearing, trying to get a place at university in a year of record competition, or taking a gap year. Whatever you need advice about, our exam agony aunts, Deborah Ribchester and Madeleine King, will be there to help. Feel free to add your comments and questions now.

Here is a quick guide to some of the other A-level features on guardian.co.uk today:

? We have a step-by-step guide to the clearing process:

? And a university guide organised by subject, for those wanting to start in 2011.

? Here are a few golden rules for opening your A-level results, including:

Don't immediately post your amazing results on Facebook. "It's great to be successful, but some of your friends are going to be dealing with not such good results," advises Hannah, 18.

? The Guardian today comes with a supplement of tips for students, The Fresher. You can read it online here:

I liked Sheffield student Danny Mulley's description of his housemate Becky Frost in this article on student living "Where's the dishwasher?"

Becky is ridiculously messy. We nicknamed her room the floordrobe because she never hangs any of her clothes up.

? And finally, take our quiz on life as a student. Enjoy.

9.09am: The Ucas website may well be your first port of call if you don't get your grades.

Official vacancy lists are published on the Ucas website and then all the contact details can be found here.

If it's all proving to be a bit baffling, and you need some human interation, the Ucas helpline will be manned from 8am-7pm today and 8.30am-6.30pm tomorrow, and then will operate normal opening hours from Monday (8.30am-6pm).

The Ucas helpline number is: 0871 468 0468.

9.18am: Some stories from the coalface here. A parent, teacher and student write about their anxieties and hopes for A-level results day.

9.22am: The BBC are running an interesting story about Dutch universities trying to tempt British students to their shores.

They argue that the quality of education is high, student fees are lower and more grants are available.

Dr Jeanine Gregersen, director of communications at Maastricht University says:

These are courses like life sciences, European law, European studies, arts and culture - these types of programme are still available. We are looking for motivated students who are interested in problem-based learning and want to have this experience in Europe.

Students will need good grades at A-level - typically As and Bs - to be considered.

9.29am: Are we seeing the first signs of how difficult clearing is going to be this year? The University of Exeter has announced:

We will not be entering clearing for any subjects on any of its campuses for Home/EU students this year

Its hotline number is 0844 620 0012. But the university is adamant that it will not be entering clearing at all.

9.36am: We had our suspicions here at Guardian Towers that Central Newcastle High School only provided school places to blondes. But we've found a brunette. And she plays squash!

9.38am: A-level pass rates (A-E) today rose to another record high of 97.6% while an unprecedented 27% of entries achieved an A, Jeevan Vasager reports.

Just over 8% of the entries were awarded the A* grade, introduced this year to help the most competitive universities select the best candidates.

The A-level pass rate rose for the 28th successive year, in results published today for candidates in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, increasing by 0.1% from 97.5% those who passed at grades A to E in 2009.

9.41am: Some more info on clearing: Nine of the elite Russell Group universities have said they will offer some places through clearing. Cardiff said it would have around 260 places available, Manchester 120 and Newcastle around 100.

9.46am: How many of you are having problems using Ucas Track?

A few of you are already telling us that the Ucas servers "are bloody awful". Is it taking an age? Are you managing to use the site successfully?

Jackbauer17, who is obviously taking a bit of time from saving the Free World to pick up his A-level results, tells us that the going is slow:

I managed to find out that my place is confirmed and that I got the grade. But others cant get in and I only got in 2 times in 2 hours.

Let us know how you are getting on with using the Ucas site.

9.49am: Some news from my colleague Jess Shepherd about the breakdown of subject successes, with maths and science having a good year.

John Dunford, outgoing general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the increase in science and maths shows "that in difficult economic times, students are choosing their subjects astutely and turning to traditional subjects in the belief that they are passports to the top unis and employment".

9.56am: So, you've got your results... and they're fantastic. Before you crack open the Ouzo (like our reader ckymu below), you're probably wondering what schools minister Nick Gibb has got to say about them, right?

Well, he's congratulated all you clever folk:

All students who received their A- and AS-level results today know how hard they have worked and I'd like to congratulate them on their achievement.

But that's quite enough positivity. There is still work to be done etc.

England has one of the most stratified and segregated school systems in the world. It is scandalous that of the 80,000 students in one year eligible for free school meals, just 45 got to Oxbridge. The coalition government is committed to all young people, regardless of their background, having the best opportunity to achieve success.

The coalition's reform agenda is designed to tackle this, he tells us:

[G]iving schools the freedom to offer the best exams and to set their own priorities; creating a strong core curriculum which gives children the knowledge to think for themselves and allows teachers to inspire their pupils; introducing the pupil premium to give support to the most disadvantaged; and strengthening vocational qualifications, including the setting up of new technical academies and the expansion of apprenticeships.

A-levels are a crucial measurement of academic achievement. We will work with universities and employers to ensure that it meets their needs in the future.

You can hear more from Nick Gibb in this YouTube video:

10.02am: The Department for Education tells us that there is more help on offer if you're in need of advice and aren't getting through to Ucas.

The Exam Results Helpline, funded by the Department for Education, provides free information and advice to students who do not receive the results they expect. The number is 0808 100 8000 from 18 to 28 August.

The Connexions Direct service is also available from 8am to 2am to advise young people on future options open to them, via email, web chat, SMS or the free phone number 0808 001 3219 which includes a free call back option.

There is also advice for parents and young people via the DirectGov website.

10.06am: Ed Balls, the shadow education secretary, has just been interviewed on BBC News. My colleague Paul Owen was listening in.

Balls said: "This is one of those days that stays with you, like getting married or going to secondary school." He added:

We can't compete around the world unless we've got the skilled people we need. There's lots of different ways to get skills. There's been a huge expansion in the number of apprenticeships.

He said apprenticeships were "just as good" as degrees. "We're only going to succeed as a country if we attract the high-skilled jobs. Whether it's an apprenticeship of a university place, we've got to expand these"

The shadow education secretary attacked the government for cutting the Future Jobs Fund, and said he was worried there would be an increase in graduate unemployment. "The right thing to do is expand places, not cut them ... It's disappointing the places have been restricted; that was a decision of the coalition government."

Finally he railed against those who talk about standards falling as grades improve. "Let's not have any of this nonsense about dumbing down and it being easier. It's not true."

10.28am: Some good advice from hayjane from Twitter about how to get into the papers today. I'm not sure this would work for both sexes. But boys could try donning a wig, and slipping on a short skirt:

Girls: collecting A-level results today and want to get in the papers? Quick! Dye your hair blonde, straighten it, wear a vest top and JUMP

Meanwhile Adam Gabbatt confirms that boys are indeed part of today's story, even if they won't make it into any of the pics:

I can confirm males are getting A-level results today too ? my little brother just got in touch with news of his

10.42am: Good to see that mini Gabbatt appears to be just as serious and high-minded as his brother:

My little brother, who has neither long blond hair nor ample bosom, has managed to both pass his A-levels and pick up his results. He got an A* in Chemistry, A in Maths, A in Biology and thus will be off to university in September. I've texted the straight-A student to ask how he will be marking the beginning of this new chapter in life. "Gettin pissed," was the reply.

10.49am: A-level students have chosen 'tough' subjects most sought after by top universities to improve their chances, reports Jess Shepherd.

Pleasingly: girls are outperforming boys overall in the new A*

Overall, 7.9% of boys' grades were A* compared to 8.3% of girls. Boys outperformed girls in science and maths subjects at A*.

The number of students who chose maths, economics and further maths has soared by 6.2%, 9% and 11.5% respectively.

More than 300,000 UK students took their exams this summer. Fewer people are taking the enitrely useless general studies, just 6% of entries.

English is still the most popular (is Alan Bennett still on the syllabus?) at 10.47% of all A-levels. Biology, chemistry and physics continued their rise, with 5.2% more teenagers studying physics than last year.

10.51am: I know some of you are concerned that we haven't used any photos of boys. Believe me, we are trying ... literally all the pictures from photo agencies that we use are of girls.

But the good news is we've just, yes, at 10.46am, found one of a boy, which you can see right here.

But if there are disgruntled chaps out there, there is a way to redress the balance: send your pics to alexandra.topping@guardian.co.uk and we'll get them on the page.

11.01am: Looks like girly swot Viv Groskop got a A* in English. Well done Viv!

My A-level results are in... A*! Dazed, proud. But would happily trade it for a contraction. Who do I contact about this?

Here is Viv's story about why she decided to take an A-level at 37.

11.03am: The lesson that there is always someone who is smarter/better-looking/stronger/faster/funnier than you may as well start when you get your A-level results.

It would be a struggle to beat Southampton student Alison Liu (left), however.

The 17-year-old (yes, yes, she only turns 18 in December) got the best exam score at her college with five A* A-levels in chemistry, biology, maths, economics and general studies from Peter Symonds' College in Winchester, Hampshire.

She also got a B in Chinese. (Ha! says someone, somewhere in the country, who got an A.)

Alison will now go to King's College in London to study medicine.

I completely did not expect this. I was really nervous coming for my results, but it was brilliant when I saw them. At first I read them twice to see they really were A*s and then I remembered to ring my mother.

11.06am: Some comments from the Institute of Directors.

Miles Templeman, director-general of the Institute of Directors, said the annual "Groundhog Day" debates about whether better results are due to lower standards were often unhelpful and generated "more heat than light".

University is not the be all and end all, he added.

Those A-level pupils who haven't won a place in higher education should not despair. University is not the be all and end all. Not all courses will confer the financial rewards so frequently cited, and employers place just as much emphasis on wider employability skills as they do on academic qualifications. There are also other providers of courses, such as further education colleges, which might be a better option for some pupils.

11.15am: If you haven't got the grades, and you want to know what courses are available and where, here is that Ucas helpline again:

UCAS HELPLINE: 0871 468 0468

11.20am: Thinktank Civitas have been in touch, accusing education secretary Michael Gove of "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" by proposing scrapping modular A-levels in a bid to restore the "gold standard".

Both teachers and top universities have made clear that re-sits, not modular A-levels, are the
major cause of grade "inflation", they say. Anastasia de Waal, head of family and education at Civitas said:

"Discarding the modular A-level would be to throw the baby out with the bathwater, Modular A-levels can be fit for purpose - in terms of learning and as indicators for universities - if re-sits are scrapped."

11.24am: This is really quite, quite brilliant.

All today's leaping A-level blondes in one place (thanks to guardian.co.uk night editor Jonathan Haynes). Warning, the title of this blog may not be suitable for under 18s: sexyalevels.tumblr.com

11.26am: Here is a great graphic showing the overall A-level pass rate and proportion of A and A* grades

11.27am: Historic moment happening here: WE ARE CHANGING OUR MAIN PIC SO THAT IT FEATURES BOYS.

Take THAT Private Eye.

11.55am: One in 12 A-level exams scored an A* today. A total of 9,302 exam entries (8.1%) were awarded an A*, according to figures published by the Joint Council for Qualifications. This exceeded predictions, based on last year's results, that around 7% would get an A*.

The results show that private school pupils were three times more likely to score the top mark than state school pupils, while overall, girls achieved more A*s than boys.

Andrew Hall, chief executive of the examining board AQA, said candidates from comprehensive schools, which are responsible for 43% of A-level entries, gained 30% of the A* grades awarded.

Students from fee-paying schools, which are responsible for 14% of entries, also took 30% of the A* grades awarded.

Hall insisted that the new way of assessing students was not designed to make A-levels harder.

There is a myth to slay here: the A-level was not meant to get harder. What was introduced was some more complex questions to show the really strong students how much better they could perform within the A-grade.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said there was "no question" that the exams were harder this year.

The questions were harder, the way in which the questions were framed. Over the last 10 years, people who have done A-levels, the A2 questions would take them through A, B, C, D, E. It would sort of take you through the answer, whereas now the question just comes at you, and you've got to do the analysis, it's required a different way of teaching.

11.57am: CLEARING NEWS

There are approximately 18,000 courses with vacancies, Ucas said today, down on 32,000 courses with vacancies last year. The number of places available on each course ranges from over 1200 places on business studies courses, to over 700 in history and more than 600 in law, according to the Ucas website.

12.07pm: Showing great initiative, our work experience person, Luke Sweeney, has been comparing the number of places available on the Ucas website clearing listings for home and international students.

Here's what he's found out:

Interesting thing in the clearing listings ? there seems to be a huge number of courses that are only available for international applicants, especially in subjects like economics and law. The clearing listings have 316 economics courses available for home students compared to 888 for international students, including vacancies at Nottingham, Loughborough and Durham.

Law has 1,144 courses available to international students (including Durham and Edinburgh) whereas there are only 634 for home students.

Is this all down to government restrictions on English student numbers which don't apply to foreign students who pay all their own fees? Handy for those universities who can charge much higher fees to international students.

We have produced three tables explaining each school and college's average results. These are being constantly updated as the results come in.

For comprehensives, click here. For grammar schools, click here. For sixth form colleges, click here.

The fact that the number of courses in clearing has almost halved this year is putting pressure on the phone lines.

The clearing hotline has received around 4,000 calls so far this morning.

12.12pm: Thanks to my colleague Peter Walker who has pointed out that in the space of 12 minutes the Press Association have filed two very important stories. The first is on Miss Newcastle 2009 getting her results, the second is on ... Miss Newcastle 2010 getting her results. Usefully, they are both marked "with pics".

Poor Peter never experienced such fame:

No one photographed me on results day. Not even my parents.

12.23pm: To recap:

? New A* grade has boosted a record year of A-level results. The pass rate went up for the 28th consecutive year, with 97.6% of entries gaining an E or above, up from 97.5% in 2009.

? One in 12 A-level exams (8%) has been awarded the new A* grade.

? The number of courses in clearing has been cut by almost half this year, making the scrabble for places more competitive than ever. There are approximately 18,000 courses with vacancies, Ucas said today, down from 32,000 courses with vacancies last year.

? Private school pupils were three times more likely to score the top mark than state school pupils, and overall girls achieved more A*s than boys. Candidates from comprehensive schools, responsible for 43% of A-level entries, gained 30% of the A* grades awarded. Students from fee-paying schools, which are responsible for 14% of entries, also took 30% of the A* grades awarded.

12.32pm: Our interactive clearing map is now showing which universities still have places available. It is, as yet, incomplete, as we can only add the data we have available, but it will be updated throughout the day.

To find out if the course you want is available, use the Ucas clearing vacancy search.

12.39pm: Further proof of the theory there is always someone who is smarter/better-looking/stronger/faster/funnier etc than you comes in the form of Richard Moon (left), 18, who has earned top grades in maths, further maths, biology, physics and chemistry.

He's off to study medicine at Queens' College, Cambridge.

His assessment: "I'm pretty chuffed, to be honest."

12.41pm: Brendan Barber (left), the general secretary of the TUC, is no fan of the new A* grade, however. He said:

Whatever its intentions, the introduction of the A* grade will do even more to favour the conveyor belt from private education to top universities. Britain remains one of the most unequal and class-bound societies in the developed world. We cannot lift the barriers to social mobility without radical action to make the UK less unequal, yet the policies of deep cuts to public spending are doing the opposite.

12.49pm: And the £10 WHSmith voucher to first person to grumpily ask "is this news?" in the comments section of this blog goes to lambretta50. Thanks for your contribution!

12.58pm: Not all students getting their A-level results today are 18-year-olds, despite the images we are bombarded with.

Louise Tickle has written an interesting piece on entering student life older and wiser.

12.59pm: The Girls' Day School Trust (GDST), a group of independent girls' schools in the UK, is understandably keen to shown off its results.

They've just let us know that 59.2% of their grades are As, of which 22.7% are A*s.

The GDST's acting director of education, Lisa Laws, said:

Our girls' results, and those of girls nationally, directly contradict the forecasts that predicted that the new A* grade, alongside the reduction in the number of modules in some subjects, would favour boys. These marks show that hard-working, well-taught, motivated and intelligent girls can achieve fantastic grades.

1.10pm: As we have been reminded repeatedly today, there are other options if you don't get the grades, or you decide that, ultimately, university is not for you.

The National Apprenticeship Service has over 9,000 vacancies on its website, and 200 job roles that offer an apprenticeship.

1.15pm: Congratualtions to John Pygott (left), who is enjoying the blog today while celebrating getting the results he wanted, second time around.

He missed out last year, getting three Cs despite being predicted two As and a B. But he regrouped, retook all of his exams, and this year got an A and two Bs. John writes:

I'm very much looking forward to taking up my place at Lancaster University, albeit a year late, studying history and Italian. I'm so so relieved I don't have to go through clearing after last year's disappointments.

We are mostly putting him in here because he has delighted the team by sending in this pic, writing: "You wanted pictures of men celebrating, and I persuaded my long-suffering dad to take this picture."

Well done John ? and thank you John's dad.

1.23pm: The scrabble for clearing places has well and truly begun, report Jeevan Vasagar and Jessica Shepherd.

Some universities have rejected students who missed their offers by just one grade. A total of 180,000 candidates are chasing places in clearing, compared with 135,000 last year according to Ucas. There are around 18,500 courses with vacancies, Ucas said, down on 32,000 courses with vacancies last year.

On some courses, such as business studies, there are more than 1,200 clearing places for UK and European Union students, while in chemistry and English literature there are barely more than 300. In history, there are more than 700 places through clearing, while there are more than 600 vacancies for law degrees, according to the Ucas website.

1.28pm: My colleague Jessica Shepherd has been speaking to Sunoo Park, 18, who has just discovered she has received six A*s. Sunoo attends Bristol Grammar and has a place to study at Trinity College, Cambridge. She is in Canada representing Britain in the International Olympiad in Informatics, a prestigious computer science competition. Jessica writes:

Sunoo achieved the top grade, which requires 80% across all exams and 90% in the final year, in computing, maths, further maths, physics, Russian and Spanish. Sunoo told the Guardian that she was hoping for all A*s, but knew it "wasn't a given". There wasn't enough time in her timetable for all six subjects, so she had to miss some lessons. Sunoo manages to find time to scuba-dive in her spare time.

Meanwhile, my colleague Rachel Williams is at the nerve centre of the Ucas clearing operation at the body's HQ in Cheltenham, where students can ring a hotline to seek reassurance that their place is safe and get advice on what to do if they haven't made the grades and how to use the system.

Rachel writes:

Bosses here say that despite the concerns raised about clearing being the toughest ever this year, so far the volume of calls has been similar to the same time on results days in 2009. But the 100 staff who've been manning the phones since 7am do seem to be exceptionally busy; some journalists (myself included) were told earlier that there was no time for any of the call handlers to break off from their duties to talk to them, even though interviews had been set up in advance. (I should point out that that was eventually rectified after a bit of reporterly foot-stamping).

The LCD screens in every corner of the room tracking how many calls are waiting, how long the longest waiting call has been waiting (if that makes sense) and how many calls have been answered also help build a picture of the volume of students seeking help. As of 1pm ? half way through the 12 hours the hotline is open for today ? the number of callers who been dealt with stood at 7,325. That would put the centre on track for a final figure around the same as last year's, which reached 15,000.

This morning, Ucas's head of external relations, Janet Pearce, told me the aim was to keep the figure for the longest call waiting below two minutes, confidently predicting this would be achieved. At the moment they're just about managing that ? it's hovering around the 1min 50sec mark ? but earlier I saw it shoot right up to 4:01.

2.10pm: If your A-level results are not quite what you hoped for ? or maybe are better than you expected ? for the next two hours our exam agony aunts, Deborah Ribchester and Madeleine King, will be available to answer your questions. Click here to join in.

2.36pm: This is a interesting idea, from the University of Nottingham.

University applicants who haven't got the grades to get into their preferred UK uni are being offered the chance to go east. Apparently Nottingham's campus in Asia still have places available for many degree courses. So instead of studying in the home of Robin Hood, students could opt to study in Malaysia or China for the same Nottingham degree offered in the UK.

Professor Christine Ennew, pro-vice-chancellor for internationalisation at Nottingham, said:

Across a range of subjects, including business, accounting, engineering, communications studies, international relations, English, pharmacy and bioscience, the university's campuses in China and Malaysia offer a range of high-quality degree programmes. Students applying for these courses can do so with confidence as all of the university's provision, across all its campuses, has received the highest possible rating from the UK's Quality Assurance Agency.

2.52pm: Some pretty graphics from the BBC, showing A-level results by subject and gender.

2.53pm: Good question from Ray Youell at Travel & Tourism Publishing Ltd, who asks which subjects were most represented in the new A* A-level grades. He says:

I ask because my experience from awarding competitive bursaries to students applying to a university was that those taking maths, physics etc bursary examinations always scored more highly than those taking social sciences.

It could also be that only students who are confident of doing well pick subjects like maths and further maths.

This story from Jessica Shepherd predicts this very outcome.

2.56pm: Here's an audio report from the inimitable Martin Wainwright, who has been speaking to sixth-form students at Havelock academy in Grimsby.

2.57pm: International jet-setter and Guardian writer Benji Lanyado has got some interesting thoughts about A-levels on his blog. Although, he is obviously very, very, VERY wrong about Jane Austen.

He quotes this, from an entertaining Times editorial, which sadly is behind a paywall. But here's a snippet to give you the idea:

Yes, in the educational world, an A-level result haul of AAA beats ABB, which is better than BCE. But in the real world nobody recites Beowolf, and the only people who use fractions professionally are drug dealers and racecourse bookmakers. Your grades fall short of your university offer? It's not the end of the world. Churchill never went to university. Nor did John Lennon. Or Tom Stoppard. Or Shakespeare. Or John Major. Or John Humphrys. Or PD James. Or Frank Sinatra.

2.59pm: So here is the breakdown on where the A*s were scored ? thanks Luke Sweeney.

The highest percentage of A* grades was awarded for further maths, where 29.9% of the 11,682 candidates received the mark.

The lowest percentage of A* grades was awarded in media, film and TV studies. Just 1.8% of 33,375 candidates were awarded the top mark ? 1.4% of 15,363 boys and 2.1% of 18,012 girls.

Just 7.4% of the 89,320 candidates taking an A-level English exam (language or literature) were awarded A* ? 7.5% of 26,927 boys and 7.3% of 62,393 girls.

3.02pm: Liking this story from muldoon about getting his A-level results, back in the day:

Results day 2002, and I had done worse than hoped. As you'd expect, everybody was asking how I'd done, and offered up comforting words once I told them. "Oh that's OK," "Call your first choice anyway; they might still let you in!" (they did, it turned out). All except one friend, Duncan Eatch. He came bounding over and asked how I'd done, and when I told him his face lit up, and he immediately exclaimed, "That spells the word 'DUDE'!"

3.11pm: Hilarious. Just found out that my colleague Helen Pidd was the blonde A-level girl in her local paper back in 1999.

I refused to jump but instead gave two massive thumbs up. I never made the national papers ? probably, looking back on it, because I was wearing a Snow Patrol T-shirt (they were cool back then, honest) with a high neck.

3.26pm: This is a very thorough, if slightly unsatisfying, piece on the arguments around grade inflation.

Don't read it expecting a conclusive answer. Patrick Casey writes:

The consistent rise in the performance of A-level students is an undeniable trend. But divining what is driving this, and indeed what the significance of the increases are is extremely difficult ... So, on the testing question of grade inflation in the UK, it seems difficult to offer any kind of conclusive answer. With such a myriad of contributing factors and interpretations of the information, the resumption of the debate this time next year seems more than likely.

3.50pm: In clearing? Try Manchester, York ... or Malaysia. Jessica Shepherd and Luke Sweeney give the full story of that offer for Nottingham to study in the east.

4.00pm: Some absolutely cracking homoerotic/touching/jumpytastic/blonde photos in our gallery. The first wrestling fun pic wins as far as I'm concerned.

4.10pm: Well, hello there James Gabbatt. After repeated pleas we finally have a photograph of my colleague Adam Gabbatt's brother and his friends celebrating their A-level results in lovely Preston.

He's the one with the dodgy (est) barnet.

4.20pm: Right, having been here since early o'clock this morning, it's time for me to sign off. Thanks very much for all your comments, links and stories. Congratulations and good luck to all A-level students. Enjoy freshers week if you're off to uni and if not, good luck in the big bad world.

4.37pm: Thanks to Lexy for blogging since this morning, I'm Luke Sweeney and I'll be taking you through until the end of the liveblog this evening. If you've got anything to say or pictures to send in, feel free to drop me a line in the comments.

For those of you who are looking to enter the world of work after A Level results, Ian Prior, our sports editor, just posted a blog on Comment is Free about being the only person in the Guardian news conference without a degree. It's well worth a read:

Not having a degree has some worthwhile advantages. Getting a job at 19 allows you to lead essentially a student's social life but with the considerable bonus of an income.

More pragmatically, it gave me a full three-year advantage over my contemporaries in the workplace, who were still swanning around on post-grads while I was a full-time staffer on a decent morning paper in Belfast.

4.55pm: And while we're recommending blog posts, the Guardian datablog has a breakdown of today's results by subject, school type, region and gender, along with a summary of the data.

The most interesting set is the breakdown of subject choices by gender. Surely it comes as no surprise to learn that performing arts was the most female-dominated subject and that over 90 percent of computing entries were male.

5.08pm: Several universities have tweeted about their clearing services in the past few minutes. Bradford University have commented on the record number of calls to their clearing hotline today.

We've had a record number of clearing calls today, we're open till 8pm tho so keep trying 0800 073 1225

Salford's clearing service will also be available until 8pm, Glamorgan will be open until 7pm and Queen's Belfast until 6pm tonight. It's worth keeping an eye on university twitter accounts if you're looking for further information about clearing as this seems to be a preferred method of communication!

Speaking of record numbers of calls, we've also had an email from Kingston University who have received 63,000 calls to their clearing service so far today and have only 50 places left.

5.18pm: Something worth considering if you're trying to decide on a university is the price of accommodation. Jill Insley reports on how the average cost of rent for a three year course now stands at a staggering £12,000, with a £10,000 difference between the cheapest university town (Belfast, if you're wondering) and the most expensive (London).

5.34pm: In case you wanted to know where the most A* grades were scored, it looks like schools in London and the South East managed to gain the highest percentage of the grades, with 9.6% being awarded the A*. The East wasn't far behind with 8.3% of all exams in the region being awarded the top grade. Here's a wonderful bar chart from our graphics team.

5.47pm: Alison Flood has revealed the latest innovation in university education: a course at Durham University devoted entirely to Harry Potter. 70 students have already signed up.

Exploring issues such as "prejudice and intolerance, peer pressure, good citizenship and ideals of adulthood, [as well as] ways in which the Harry Potter series has helped to rebrand Britain", the course has been reviewed and approved by the faculty's teaching and learning committee.

I for one can't wait to see the Daily Mail's take on this tomorrow morning.

5.53pm: It seems some students have had their unconditional offers revoked - we'd like to hear from you if you know or have heard of anyone in this situation. Drop us a comment below or email madhvi.pankhania@guardian.co.uk

5.58pm: On Twitter and forums some students are still unsure whether they have been accepted for their course. If Ucas Track still hasn't confirmed your choices, watch this video from UCAS; it could well be that the university's still considering you, especially if you were very close to their conditional offer.

6.12pm: Before we sign off for the day, here's a roundup of today's news.

? The pass rate went up for the 28th year in a row, with 97.6% of exams gaining a passing grade. The new A* grade was gained by 8.1% of candidates, slightly more than the exam boards had predicted. A recap of all the statistics can be found here.

? A record 388,322 applicants have been accepted into their chosen university or college, an increase of about 8,000 from results day last year. 57.6% of applicants have been placed so far. The race to gain places in clearing has become more difficult, with just 18,000 places on offer this year, a cut of almost 50%.

? UCAS is keeping their customer service unit open until 8pm tonight to cope with high demand, having answered over 11,000 calls today. Many other universities are also leaving their lines open for longer so check their websites for details.

? The Guardian has an updated map of universities offering clearing places and Ucas has a full directory of all the courses nationwide that still have some places to offer.

? There be another live chat from 2-4pm tomorrow where your A-level and clearing questions will be answered by our experts. Post any questions and concerns on guardian.co.uk/education

That brings us to the close of today's live blog. Congratulations to everyone who made it into university courses and all the best of luck to those of you either going through clearing or seeking alternative paths.

Clearing 2010: Competition will be fierce so start planning now

Last year 48,000 students found places through clearing but that still left 130,000 out in the cold. This year will be even tougher so start early

If Thursday's A-level results aren't what you were hoping for, don't worry - there are still some places left on courses starting this autumn. The clearing system matches institutions which have spare places with students who have not got the grades required for their offers or apply late.

Last year, just under 48,000 students got into university through clearing and although the numbers are likely to be much lower this year, some courses still have spaces. So far, institutions have already confirmed over 2,500 places that will be available through clearing. Bath will have 50 places, Bradford 255, Buckinghamshire New 50-100, Goldsmiths expects to have 100 places, Kent 250, Leeds Trinity and All Saints College 20, Manchester 50, Nottingham under 50, West of England 200, Winchester 20, Wolverhampton 355 and Writtle 400.

But with demand for degrees up 11.6% this year, an estimated 170,000 students may find themselves without a place. Last year the figure was 130,000.

Even some of the cleverest may not have done enough to get in. Last week, a Guardian poll found that institutions such as Cambridge, the London School of Economics and Warwick were turning down students predicted to get the new A* grade, introduced this year, even though thegrade requires test scores of 90% or above.

A number of elite universities have already said they will have no clearing places at all this year. All courses at Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Imperial, Oxford, Reading, St Andrews and Warwick are full.

Education Guardian is here to help you throughout A-levels week. On Thursday and Friday, experts from the Association of Colleges will be on hand to answer your questions in our live chat. Anyone concerned about their results and their options can post questions for Deborah Ribchester and Madeleine King here.

Those wishing to apply for a place through clearing would be advised to start researching the options now. Here is a useful step by step guide to clearing. For more information about institutions, browse our university guide subject tables. While formal results and vacancies on courses are not formally published until Thursday, a number of universities do have information on the sorts of places that may be available on their websites. And with competition so fierce, the best places will be snapped up quickly. Use our interactive map to see where the vacancies are.

And from 7.30 on results day, you can read all the news, analysis and commentary here, and post your comments on our live blog.

? This article was amended on 18 August, 2010. In the original, the number of University of Salford's clearing places was given as 880. This has been updated, after Salford amended their clearing figures.

A-level results 2010: Live clearing advice

Put your A-level results dilemmas to our exam agony aunts, Deborah Ribchester and Madeleine King

A-level results not quite what you hoped for? Or even better than expected? You may need some help in deciding what to do next.

Perhaps you're worried about clearing, and trying to get a place at university in a year of record competition. Or maybe you're considering taking a gap year and need advice.

Just missed your grades? Choosing between two courses? Thinking of re-takes? Our experts are here to help.

Education Guardian has teamed up with the Association of Colleges to offer A-level advice online. You can post questions now. Our exam agony aunts will post responses between 2pm and 4pm on Thursday and Friday.

Students who have just received their AS-level results may also want advice - on which subject to drop, or planning how to get a university place next year.

Deborah Ribchester is curriculum manager at the Association of Colleges. She has worked in the further education sector for 20 years and knows all about the range of choices for further and higher education.

Madeleine King is higher education policy manager at the Association of Colleges. She has a thorough understanding of school-based issues and is skilled in advising people as a consultant.

If you are in a position to offer advice - from personal or professional experience - please feel free to join the discussion.

Beating the burger vendors

In an open letter to headteachers, Tam Fry, spokesman for the national obesity forum and founder of the child growth foundation, offers advice on promoting healthy eating

"You might find it strange that I am writing to you since I know little about the school system but whenever it comes to a stand-off between you and the politicians in charge in Westminster, I want you to know that you have a friend. I have heard such nonsense from Ministers at the Departments of Health and Education over the past two weeks that I am driven to write to you in this way. I am as passionate about protecting children's health as you are in protecting their education.

I would prefer that you didn't have an epidemic of childhood obesity as well as their education to cope with ? or is it "fat" as one of the above ministers recommends we call the 27% of concerningly overweight children entering primary or secondary school. I would prefer, of course, that they lived in an environment where they didn't become fat in the first place and am counting on you to ensure they don't get any fatter in your care.

To be frank, you should be doing everything in your power to see that being achieved and, between friends, you're not off the hook if you don't. I won't continue to sing your praises if you fail to strive for the catering standards that Jamie Oliver worked so hard for ? and two more Coalition Government Ministers seem so bent on destroying. You also must seek to timetable proper PE. Westminster's aspiration of two hours a week of PE in the curriculum is simply not enough: children need an hour a day.

If the curriculum puts that activity beyond your control, keeping children on school premises at dinner time is certainly within it. If that requires you to give a makeover to any run-down catering arrangements on your premises, so be it. Many schools have demonstrated how feasible it is. Though primary school children may be fairly simple to cater for, no sensible secondary schoolchild will want to sit in a tacky dining hall when there are comforts to be had at McDonald's just down the road,

To prove how a makeover makes all the difference, take a look at schools in Perth where headteachers have successfully kept their children inside by beating the burger vendors at their own game. Their innovation is the "House of Munch" and could be the answer to any school bedevilled by fast food vans kerb-crawling around school perimeters. Hitting on the idea of buying burger vans for themselves and siting them at the side of the playgrounds, the head teachers gave their potentially chippy-bound children food that they themselves could choose. Naming the vans the Houses of Munch was the idea of the children and that gave them "ownership" of the scheme. If standing in line at the dining hall servery queue was anathema to them, the Houses would offer then food in the way they wanted it, bundled up in wraps and baguettes, served quickly and affordably. The system mimics their "grab it and go" culture and gives them freedom to roam anywhere on campus to eat it. The schools' caterers must still obey the strict nutritional guidelines of the Scottish Executive but, surprise, surprise, the children actually love it and show scant sign of bunking off. Almost overnight Perth has seen a 20% rise in their meal takeup.

If a carbon copy of a House of Munch is for you, go for it. It seems to confirm that any child will take to good food if it's served in the right way. Jamie Oliver's message was quite right and the ministers in London quite wrong to denigrate it.

I am, very sincerely, yours."

Tam Fry

Would I lie to get my son into a good school?

What wouldn't I do is the more appropriate question

My son was privately educated for the first eight years of his life when tragedy struck. I was made redundant and couldn't afford the fees. I moved my son three times in three months before getting him into a decent state school.

One of my first choices was less than five minutes away and I knew it was one of the hardest schools to get into in our borough. When I called the school to ask for details of their catchment area, I was told that it only covered the road the school was on. The price of family homes on that road is in excess of £500k.

It felt like a form of social exclusion. A boy who lives on that road, is more deserving of a place in a decent state school than my son because his parents have more money.

So what are the options for a single mum like me with ambitions of raising a doctor and not a drug dealer? For parents who can't afford half a million pound homes but still want the best for their kids, for the atheists who flood the churches every Sunday, with concealed earpieces listening to the top ten on their iPods just to make the whole 'attending church' thing more bearable.

Surely the question we should be asking is what forces parents to lie? For me it would be the horror stories I read in the press on a daily basis. The stories of students who taunt their teachers to the brink of mental breakdown; the sight of police patrols outside the gates of the most notorious schools. Or my bus journey home, where I witness bullies preying on the softer children, slapping them around their heads and ridiculing them.

So far I haven't had to lie, or be economical with the truth, but if I had to choose between sending my son to a poorly performing school or a school that produced good grades with lovely children, for me the choice would be a simple one.

? Ingrid Marsh is a presenter on Westside FM and Sydenham Radio

Are you terrified about finding a good state secondary school?

David Cameron is. What do you think?

I think I'd be terrified of some of them where it would seem that teachers are not in control and where there's poor discipline and poor learning. But we had our daughter in a state school when she was younger and we were very happy with it. My experience is that the very best state schools are better than many independent schools. They are always going to be limited by the resources, which are so much more plentiful in the independent sector.

But in terms of the quality of the teaching and the quality of the learning, I think some state schools can be more enterprising, challenging and stimulating than some tired independent schools.

Susan, a parent who is moving her child from private to state school due to a change in financial circumstances

I'm worried about 30 kids in a class. At the school where my daughter is now there are 15. I went round a state primary school this week ? it did seem a bit noisy and the facilities can't compare. They had a few computers, but nothing like the well-equipped ICT room and music room at the private school. Even things you should take for granted, like chairs, were paid for by a fundraising event. On the other hand, it seemed caring and nurturing. If I was a mother starting out, I'd be very reassured by that.

I'm much more worried about secondary education. That she's going to come across people from abused backgrounds, drug addicts, gang culture, things she's never had to deal with before. You hear all sorts of things about the classes being unruly and the teacher unable to keep control.

Dr Caroline Fertleman, paediatrician; three children in private primary and secondary schools

We've considered state schools at each stage of our children's education. One primary head we met was amazing and inspiring, but in the end we decided against his school. We are lucky that we can afford to choose where we put our children. I went to private school and loved it, whereas my husband had an awful time at a state school. When he went back for a reunion, he found most of his ex-classmates had been in prison. But then maybe the drive that has made him a successful lawyer came as a reaction to his schooling. I also see a lot of bad elements from my work, and how unbelievably rough some state schools are, with things such as overdose and deliberate self-harm. Of course it's not representative, but life is based on anecdote as well as evidence.

Liz Robinson, headteacher, Sussex Square primary, Southwark

I was terribly sad when I heard he'd said that. He is in a position of responsibility for state education, and he's made such a damaging comment. State education is NOT terrifying, I couldn't say that more emphatically. What I object to most is the suggestion of fear about personal safety.

It's very insulting to the many schools across London that are in huge areas of social challenge and yet succeed in being the most warm and engaging places you could hope to find.

Sussex Square is on the Aylesbury Estate, an area of high deprivation. But when people come to my school they are overwhelmed, not because some children lead difficult lives, but by the fact that they are learning and achieving to an exceptional standard. In my experience, you will find examples of such exemplary practice across London.

Professor Marcus du Sautoy, mathematician, writer, television and radio presenter; three children in state primary and secondary schools

I think if you go into state schools in London, as I've done with maths presentations, you see some fantastic things going on, with innovative teaching finding ways of delivering interesting things to kids.

I attended a state secondary and got a fantastic education out of it. Sending my son to a comprehensive was a no-brainer.

I visited the school to have a look round and did some maths workshops. What I saw was a healthy, all-round education. The teachers seemed to be enjoying their work, and I had no second thoughts about sending my son there. It felt very much like the school I went to as a kid, with a range of abilities, a social mix and delivering a good education.

If you don't know about state schools it could be hard to judge. Maybe David Cameron should spend a bit more time going to see the schools for himself.

Elite universities are better for students? I don't think so

As an arts student at the prestigious University of Manchester, I received very little teaching from academic staff

Malcolm Grant ? who runs UCL, the "fourth best university in the world" ? says elite universities must be protected from funding cuts, even if that means others are forced to close. The argument is this: prestigious universities, such as those in the Russell Group, provide the best experience for students because their teaching is based on the quality of their research.

I disagree. I have just completed an English degree at the Russell Group's University of Manchester. It involved very little teaching. The maximum teaching time I received ? lectures and seminars ? was six hours a week.

Of course, as AC Grayling argues, university should not be about "spoon-feeding and hand-holding"' students, but about "autonomy in thinking, reading and writing".

Still, there is a profound difference between spoon-feeding and actively encouraging debate between students and academics. University lecturers are experts in their fields, so the more contact there is with students, the richer their degree experience will be.

In my first year of university, the vast majority of my seminars were led by PhD students, and although on the whole they were competent at teaching, our contact with the real experts, those we thought we would be getting, was reduced further. What exactly are arts students at Russell Group universities paying for?

Unlike at Oxford and Cambridge, tutorials at Manchester were rare, despite the well-documented value of learning and debating in small groups. During my time at university, scheduled contact hours consisted only of lectures and seminars, with up to 20 people in a seminar group.

Tutorials were not part of the teaching programme, and had to be arranged with tutors during their office hours. It seems to me that I lost out on what many consider to be the most valuable aspect of the university teaching and learning experience.

Over the past few years, a system of positive discrimination has encouraged students from poorer backgrounds to apply to leading universities. We have to wonder how such students get on with so little teaching and support. No surprise that students feel disillusioned by their experience of the elite higher education system.

In the Guardian's league table that ranks English courses at all UK universities ? and takes student feedback into account ? Manchester comes a poor 55th. A Guardian article in 2006 drew attention to the paucity of teaching at Manchester, pointing out that students at the other university in the same city, Manchester Met, received many more hours of teaching from lecturers, along with advice and support from tutors.

At Manchester, unlike science undergraduates, whose timetables often included upwards of 15 hours of teaching per week, we arts students were very much left to our own devices. We spent most of the week scouring through novel after obscure novel, only for it to be discussed on a superficial level for half an hour ? not at all worth the time we'd invested in reading it.

With women dominating the arts, a further question must be asked: is discrimination taking place? Male students, who are still over-represented on science degrees, are not only benefiting from more teaching time at university, but also have a head start in the jobs market. Arts graduates are finding it increasingly tough to find jobs once graduating.

But tuition fees for arts and science degrees are the same. Before there is any discussion about raising tuition fees, we need to look at increasing the amount of contact time for arts degrees. Otherwise students are likely to vote with their feet.

Either fees for arts students need to be reduced, or contact hours need to be increased, to redress the balance between science and the arts, male students and female.

Why do celebrities get honorary degrees?

Thrilled as one might be for Orlando Bloom and Kim Cattrall, one has to wonder what the point is

Should the news that Sex in the City actress Kim Cattrall and Pirates of the Caribbean actor Orlando Bloom have donned funny hats and gowns to collect honorary degrees this week give pause for thought?

Cattrall flew over specially from Canada to receive her honorary degree from John Moores University in Liverpool where she grew up. For Bloom it was also a return to his roots when he turned up for a presentation at the University of Kent.

And yesterday we learned that three golfers ? Padraig Harrington, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson ? received honorary degrees from, appropriately, the University of St Andrews.

They are just the latest in a long list of similarly honoured celebrities: some have a whole heap of certificates to hang on their walls, or hide forever in a dark drawer.

But who really benefits? And who pays for this frivolity?

At a time when many university degrees have been devalued in the minds of employers and the taxpaying public, isn't it time for universities to join the real world?

There must be thousands of unsung heroes and heroines in dozens of unknown workplaces who would provide better role models than the actors and athletes universities choose to honour.

What about those who quietly devote their lives to research, or use their knowledge and experience to improve the lives of those who need their help?

Or better still in these stringent times, why don't universities stop awarding honorary degrees altogether?

Perhaps university staff could set an example to their students ? forget fun and games and work to achieve high standards? As they will discover, degree ceremonies are soon followed by a lifetime in the harsh outside world, where success requires diligence and plenty of long, hard slog.

The piratical life was, and is, a dangerous one ? not a sensible career option. Sex in the City, or out of it, may be enjoyable and undoubtedly looms large in the lives of many students. But the real world is a whole lot less glamorous.

? Nick Seaton is chair of the Campaign for Real Education.

Has your school-building project been scrapped by Michael Gove's Building Schools for the Future cuts? | Amelia Hill

If so, the Guardian wants to hear from you. How much time and money have you lost ? and what are the consequences of the building work not going ahead?

The education secretary, Michael Gove, has spent today apologising for mistakenly allowing schools in England to believe that their rebuilding programmes would be going ahead when hundreds of others were being scrapped.

As a result of 25 errors in an original list issued by the Department for Education on Monday, parents and teachers at a number of schools ? around a dozen in all, we think ? had their hopes raised in vain.

Labour MPs have called the slip-up "intolerable" and "astonishing". Gove, who has pulled the plug on Labour's Building Schools for the Future programme, has been labelled a "miserable pipsqueak".

We are putting together a package of material in relation to this story, and we are interested in hearing from schools ? there are about 700 in total ? whose building programmes have been cancelled.

Are you one of the schools which had put work into a BSF programme that will now not go ahead? How much time and money have you lost ? and what are the consequences of the building not going ahead? What's your opinion of Gove's mishandling of the situation ? and what should happen now?

We would like to hear directly from you ? please email us at educationguardian.co.uk@guardian.co.uk ? or, if you have general views on the issue, please post them below.

'I don't think I should have done IGCSEs'

Some schools make all their students do the more advanced IGCSEs instead of normal GCSEs. But what's the point, asks Emily Hooley, if you're no good at science?

Summer has arrived, and fifteen to sixteen year-olds all over the UK are celebrating the end of the dreaded GCSE year. Having recently completed my exams, I look back and all I can remember is stress and panic.

But at my school, we did not do regular GCSEs. IGCSEs were compulsory, and I was always less than confident I would reach the high standards they demanded. Now that I look back, I can't help but wonder if I would have been better off taking the normal GCSEs.

IGCSEs (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) were devised by Cambridge University to give students a step up to their A-level curriculum, by being more demanding. Unlike GCSEs, IGCSEs are not organised in modules. There is only one exam at the end of the entire course and there is no coursework.

The new education secretary, Michael Gove, has said that, from September, state schools will have the option of taking IGCSEs. So all those who excel at science subjectswill have a chance to take science IGCSEs. However, many private schools do not give students the choice to take the normal GCSE. It seems to me, whatever school you might attend, you should have the choice.

I have never been good at science. My reports trumpeted my successes in English and the arts, but my science comments were always the same: "tries hard" and "Emily sets high standards for herself and is working hard to fulfil them". It was the teachers' way of saying science was clearly not for me.

At the end of year nine, my year group was divided into four for science: from division 1 (for those who almost did not need a teacher and would take the prestigious Triple Award IGCSE) to division 4. I was in division 3, with two of my closest friends. Even at that level, we soon discovered just how difficult science could be. Chemistry was a foreign language to me, as dull as it was confusing. Whenever anyone said the word "hydrochloric", my brain would switch off. And let's just say that word was said a lot.

IGCSE simply did not suit me. It was incredibly detailed, and meant for those with a huge capacity for learning names, theories and diagrams off by heart. Whereas, when I look at GCSE higher science past papers, the questions make perfect sense to me. Most are multiple choice, and they ask questions that are relevant to everyday life. The subject matter is still challenging, but the multiple choice gives students so much more chance of achieving marks.

The IGCSE is perfect for the science geniuses out there ? our future doctors, technicians, dentists. But what I would find more useful is the application of science in everyday life. For example, if I was to invest in a garden arch, I would have no idea what it should be made of. If I bought a spoon, which would be more sustainable, one made out of plastic, metal or wood? Having completed my IGCSEs, I can honestly say I have no idea, but it is topics like these that GCSE covers, along with: How would one make PVC stiffer? How long ago was the solar system formed? How does the sun generate its energy? I for one would feel extremely clever to know the answers to these. They are so much more relevant to me than knowing exactly how I digest my food. Digestion happens to me with or without my knowledge of its exact science, but if I set off to buy that garden arch, it would clearly end in a domestic disaster.

I think it is underestimated just how much presentation can help comprehension. The way GCSEs are laid out immediately calm me. Large images jump out at me, making me think that science is accessible and out there all the time, uniting the world in its complexity. The multiple choice gives me confidence. Instead of finding myself gazing down at a diagram of the heart agonizing over the names of its component parts, I would have been thinking on my feet.The two friends in my division, when it came down to the exams, seemed to give up. I kept working, determined not to be an underdog. But we all found the IGCSE impossible to keep up with, simply because we were fated not to be good at science.

I believe that if we had taken GCSEs, we would all have done well. And there would have been things in the examinations that we would find relevant in the future.

With the IGCSEs, we all knew that as soon as our exams were done, science was over forever. So what was the point?

Teacher-baiting by pupils is rife

Pupils still seem to enjoy provoking teachers to rage as a classroom sport

"Get out of my way, you c***!", demanded a 13-year-old boy as I stood in the doorway of my music classroom blocking his exit. I had watched him wilfully kick over a number of chairs and, after restraining him by holding on to his backpack, had told him to tidy up. I have never seen a child so upset, his progress halted, his rampage interrupted. He pressed himself close like a wronged footballer to a referee, his eyes ablaze with animosity. He wasn't the only student in the class to have abused the furniture, but he was one of the last to leave, he'd given me a false name ? Bob ? for my makeshift register and had turned on the keyboard instrument behind him to play automatically at full volume, which it was now doing. I felt an outburst rising in my throat.

But Bob got there first. His spleen dissipated my own. I refused to let him go. "Don't you touch me, you f***ing rapist c***!" he shouted. I resisted the urge to throttle him or otherwise respond in kind, and with a grimace, let him pass. Seeing he had not been able to goad me into rage, he spat at me as his passing shot and I spent the remaining lessons with a large wet patch of his saliva on my jacket.

There have been many times in my eight-year teaching career when I have felt like a bear chained to a post in a medieval village square, prodded into rage by children with sharp sticks who remain just out of paw-swipe. Strangers to empathy, and hysterical with excitement at the danger they have inflamed, they taunt and tease from all sides while I lash out in blind fury. What terrific fun it must be.

"Sir's losing it!" I hear them joyfully whisper as they vie with each other for the most daring taunts. They shower me with bits of paper or rubber and the odd plastic bottle when my back is turned, tell me my breath stinks and bombard me all at once with insults: "What's yer name, mate?"; "Bit posh, ain't yer?" ? until I am red-faced, fuming, stamping on the ground and tearing at my hair. "You wanna get some anger-management," say the boys derisively. "You're scary," say the girls, which doesn't help.

It surprised me to discover my own anger in the classroom. Apart from once with a taxi driver in South America where a certain amount of ire seemed to be normal ? even expected ? behaviour, I could not remember ever losing my temper before. On the other hand, I could recall the teachers who taught me being cross nearly all the time (not necessarily on my account) and it occurred to me that I was simply mimicking them in some strange atavistic way.

It also struck me as odd that in religion, anger is counted among the seven deadly sins. Surely, no one was ever wilfully angry, having invariably been provoked by some external force or person? It could only be a sin, I reasoned, because pure, uncontrollable anger turns us back into animals, wild, violent and bereft of the civilising cloak of humanity, a shameful thing indeed. More sinful by far, though, was the ugly urge to provoke a fellow creature into a fearful strop.

Bear-baiting came to be seen as a horribly cruel activity, unworthy of civilised Britons. It was banned and replaced with a sentimental attitude towards pets and the desire to campaign for animal rights. Schoolchildren as much as anyone regretted the wickedness of torturing innocent creatures in this way and found it hard to believe how the ancestors could have harboured such spite for innocent brute beasts. So an idea occurs. Would it not be timely now to show schoolchildren the similarity between baiting bears and teachers? One could refer to the recent unfortunate case of Peter Harvey, the teacher who broke loose from his chain and struck a tormentor with an iron bar, as appropriately provocative material for a PSHE lesson before the end of term.

I wasn't worried about letting Bob, in the above incident, go, as I knew that enough other adults had been witness to his abuse to have him excluded for a considerable stretch. I didn't know the class: they had been sent to me unexpectedly as a result of a disrupted timetable on the school's Buddhist Day (what irony!). They arrived in a happy uproar and were clearly bent only on the fun of the wind-up. Perhaps word had got round that, with enough needling, I could be made to blow my top in very entertaining ways. And they were determined to try. It was unfortunate for them to catch me only in the zen-like calm of period two. Come the afternoon, when my tolerance level is much lower, then I really do hit the effing roof.

Live advice on applying to university

Post your questions now for our experts who will be online from 2pm-4pm today

Following the publication of the Guardian University guide 2011, expert advisers from two of the country's top sixth form colleges will be available this afternoon to answer your queries and dilemmas about choosing a course or university that is right for you, or about how to apply.

Debbie Mahoney is Head of Careers at Peter Symonds College, Winchester, and Helen Diffenthal is Director of Careers and Guidance at Farnborough Sixth Form College.

We will also have responses from Joy Mercer, senior quality manager with the Association of Colleges policy team.

They will be live online to give advice from 2pm to 4pm. Post your questions by commenting below to be sure of a reply.

? The advisers cannot be held responsible for the information provided. Their advice is provided as a one-off service. Please do not attempt to contact them ? their main focus is supporting their own students within the college.