STUDENTS are being offered prizes of up to £7,000 for new ways of teaching children their university subjects.

They have to produce a teaching method that conveys an idea in maths, science, IT or design to both pupils and the general public. These ideas will be developed, possibly commercially by businesses.

The competition will be launched early next year and will initially be limited to students at the universities of Manchester/UMIST, Bath, Bristol, Edinburgh and University College London.

It is being organised by the Teach First programme, which puts high-flying graduates to work in schools, after being awarded a grant worth over £100,000 by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.