Pupils ditch performing arts for maths and physics

Media and the performing arts are falling in popularity among GCSE and A-level students in England, while computing, physics and maths are enjoying a boom.

Provisional figures for exam entries in England this summer, published by exams regulator Ofqual on Thursday, showed a steady fall in popularity among courses often labelled “Mickey Mouse” subjects.

Drama A-level entries dropped 5.8 per cent this summer compared to 2023, while the number of students choosing performing arts at GCSE fell 3.1 per cent from last year.

In total, A-level entries for performing arts have sunk almost three-quarters over the past decade – the largest of any subject.

Sociology and geography have also started to fall out of favour, with A-level entries in each subject declining by 6.9 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively over the past year.

Citizenship studies saw the largest drop in GCSE entrants compared to 2023, with 3.9 per cent fewer students set to sit exams in the subject this summer.

At A-level, media entries dropped by 1.3 per cent while psychology declined by 2.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, computing continues to see a steady rise in popularity, with provisional GCSE entries up 6.2 per cent since last year and A-level entries up 11.8 per cent.

Computing has exploded in popularity over the past decade, with the number of students taking exams in the subject at A-level rising almost fourfold since 2014.

Statistics, engineering, physics and maths have enjoyed a similar boom, with statistics entries at GCSE jumping 20.3 per cent since 2023.

Education unions lamented the dwindling popularity of the arts and pointed the finger at recent government rhetoric, which has placed a renewed emphasis on value for money.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said provisional exam entry figures published on Thursday showed the “continuation of a catastrophic trend” after “the Government made another attack on the arts in education” this week.

Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday that the Conservatives would introduce legislation to clamp down on “rip-off” degrees, which he claimed do little to raise students’ career prospects.

While he did not name any specific degrees set to be targeted, senior Tory sources said courses such as circus and football studies could face the axe under the plans.

Mr Kebede said the declining popularity of the arts also comes as ministers place increased emphasis on performance metrics like the English Baccalaureate (EBacc).

The EBacc, introduced in 2010, is a government measure to encourage pupils to take core academic subjects, including English, maths, science, a humanities subject and a language at GCSE.

Languages and computing are included in the EBacc. The latest provisional figures published by Ofqual on Thursday showed languages have also grown in popularity, with French A-level candidates rising by 8.1 per cent over the last year, Spanish 2.3 per cent and German 3.1 per cent.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), suggested the decline in popularity among some creative arts subjects could be because they are “tough to maintain”.

Latest recruitment data showed a drop in specialist creative arts teachers joining the sector this year amid squeezed school budgets, with just 44 per cent of the target recruited for art and design.

Experts have also put the rise of computing at the expense of other subjects down to shifting interests among teenagers.

Clare Marchant, chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), said last year that the surge in demand for computing has largely been driven by “the rise in digital and AI”.

Ms Marchant said a growing public conversation around gaming and technology had translated into university applications for computing, as happened to economics following the 2008 financial crash and medicine and nursing during the Covid pandemic.

Applications to study computing at university were up almost 10 per cent last summer compared to 2022.