Massive decline in English A-level take-up thanks to Gove reforms

[noblegiraffe]

One for @piggywaspushed who warned of this.

Take-up of English A-levels has declined massively since 2016. There has also been a decrease in the take-up of Maths and Further Maths A-levels after years of steady increases (and the country cannot afford this).

Good job everyone. Well done.

Full figures here: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/803906/Provisional_entries_for_GCSE__AS_and_A_level_summer_2019_exam_series.pdf

What’s the thoughts on why this has happened? Is it because the A level English course is very narrow and it puts students off?

I did indeed. Call me Cassandra.

I saw an article about this on Twitter earlier, too. Lots of arts and media subjects are in what seems to be pretty terminal decline. All the languages (despite the link being made to EBacc) are declining at GCSE and A Level, except Spanish.

Maths seems to be on the rise in my school so I find that hard to explain.

blame, most English teachers and educationalists put it down to what I call the Cult of STEM. Some blame the offputting GCSE for decline at A Level but I ma not convinced. I think English often used to be a fourth subject and now they do three. Boys are taking Eng and media subjects a bit less, but they were always rather girl dominated. What has made a huge difference is the drop off in able girls who are told (pretty directly) that able girls should do science. Because feminism.

Also, they don't read any more!

wonkhe.com/blogs/what-degrees-will-students-want-to-take-in-the-future/?

As someone outside education Gove’s plan always seemed arbitrary.

I see papers are now finally picking up on state schools dropping languages, also predicted by a number of the teachers on here.

It angers me that Gove got the opportunity to experience these things now happily destroys it for all but a few.

To the teachers - do pupils/students tell you why they are not choosing these subjects when they are good at them?

My dd is at a small indie that has pushed STEM - she's chosen English for A-level. There is one class - there are two of them in it....

That should be "will be two of them in it" as she's just finished year 11.

On the upside (for her) it will make it a lot easier to get short notice tickets for NT live type shows/poetry events I guess....

Yes, they do.They often say in terms of English Lit that they want to do science . If they want to complement this with an essay subject they pick history. Lang Lit is more popular these days and is actually less directly helpful if they decide they want to do an English degree. They also perceive Eng Lit as hard : I think often due to undermarking by cautious teachers at GCSE.

My other subject is film : demonised as a 'soft subject' (it really isn't!) and this seems to worry students (and their parents) more and more.

On Twitter, some people are blaming unis for over emphasising employability as the reason for doing a degree, thereby making their own less vocational degrees seem undesirable.

My DS2 will be picking A Levels soon. he likes reading well enough and is on track for a 7 or better in Eng Lit. His school should be pushing him to choose it but I don't think they will and I don't think he'll take it.

See nowmyrtle , at a state school, that simply wouldn't run, sadly.

Is that an all girls' school?

I would imagine the gcse poetry syllabus has something to do with it, if my dd is to be believed. She thinks it is utterly mysterfying and almost completely pointless. She's predicted 8s and 9s across the board. I'd hate to think what mid or low attaining pupils think of it.

To be honest neo , it doesn't sound like she should do English then! They can't all like it!

Interesting stuff and ideas.
As an aside - how many texts are studied at A level English lit?
It is definitely a subject that DD will consider for 6th form, but who knows what other pressures might be put on her to make other choices?

I agree Piggy. She has absolutely no interest in doing A level English. But I think her experience at gcse has shaped her opinion. I used to enjoy poetry at school, but she's showed me the poems she's studying and I can't make head nor tail of them. Something more accessible might make the subject more appealing to a wider range of students.

It's not about liking poetry. It's the fact that they have to know 15 poems backwards because one of those will come up in the exam, which they will have to compare with a second poem of their choice. The named poem will be printed on the exam paper. The other poems aren't allowed in the room so they have to write about the second poem from memory. To gain the highest grades they have to write about both poems equally.

I teach this, I love poetry and it is PREPOSTEROUS.

Is this AQA? I think the poems are pretty well selected for the most part... I find the students generally like them but they whine about the number of poems and the fact that they have to learn things off by heart (not technically true!)

blame this will depend on board but roughly 6 exam texts (which includes poetry, a Shakespeare play and probably a couple of novels and a play). Plus coursework. Compare to Film where they do 12 films and it is really pretty light!

piggy - yes, I should have added to my post - it is an all girls school. You're right that in a state school they wouldn't be able to run it (although I suppose it would depend on proportionality compared to year group?)

When I was doing my A levels about 8 years ago I wanted to choose English Language, only to be told they were choosing not to run it and I got defaulted into English Lit instead, which I didn't like.

While I did equally well at both for GCSEs it was very disappointing I didn't get my preferred choice at A Level.

Unfortunately schools seem to be pushing pupils into making certain choices- often in my year people couldn't take certain classes due to timetable clashes. Funnily enough STEM subjects never had a timetable issue.

They definitely wouldn't. MFL often seem to be excepted but generally about 8 would be the minimum.

I think all girls' schools are particularly trumpeting STEM.

blame - my dd will be doing six set texts (novels, plays - including one Shakespeare, and poetry) plus two texts of their own choosing....

English Lit A level wasn’t that wonderful before the reforms. Certainly AS level English Lit seemed very prescriptive. No marks given for wider reading, just ticking off points in each section.

I loved doing A'level Literature there wasn't a choice in my day, but now I am a DT teacher I am glad that students are moving to STEM subjects because we need that skill set with Brexit etc. However students have a choice and should do the subjects, primarily, that they enjoy.

Sorry, I wasn't being clear - I meant that 2 out of the year group in a small school could translate to 8/10 in larger...

Ours is definitely on the STEM wagon piggy - speech day has another STEM speaker... I've told DD that am tempted to unfurl a "arts and humanities are important too" banner To be fair, I think the positive reinforcement of STEM is great but am more than a bit surprised that DD will be in such teeny tiny classes for her A-levels...

We have also seen a steep decline in English A level takeup. I think it is down to the necessarily slightly mechanical and dull EngLang teaching/exams at GCSE and students not always being clear on the difference between EngLang and EngLit at GCSE (I KNOW 🙄). And the point about losing the 4th subject is a good one too.

It's a terrible shame.

Cult of STEM.

Maths has dropped too though. That’s definitely down to the new GCSE destroying kids’ confidence.

The new maths A-level is awful too, so I can’t see it recovering.