Young people in England are studying a “narrower range” of subjects in post-16 education than two decades ago, a report suggests.
Students are increasingly choosing all of their A levels from a single subject group, according to the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).
The findings have been published as students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are due to receive their A-level results on Thursday 15 August.
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The decoupling of AS and A levels in England - where reformed AS levels no longer count towards a full A level - has “likely played a key role” in reducing subject diversity, the study by the NFER says.
The NFER report - commissioned by the British Academy - shows a sharp reduction in the range of subjects chosen since 2015-16 when the process of separating AS and A-level qualifications began.
Arts and humanities are suffering
The change has affected the take-up of humanities and arts subjects in post-16 education, which the paper says risks “having profound impacts on the future shape of these disciplines”.
The research shows that while 56 per cent of AS or A-level students studied a humanities subject in 2015-16, only 38 per cent studied one in 2021-22.
And 19 per cent of AS or A-level students took English literature in 2015-16, declining to 11 per cent in 2021-22.
The proportion of students taking history dropped from 21 per cent to 15 per cent.
The report reveals that more students are choosing to exclusively study AS and A levels in the same subject group - such as all science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects, or all social science subjects.
The proportion of students taking AS or A levels from a single subject group increased from 21 per cent to 35 per cent between 2015-16 and 2021-22.
The subject choices available to students have also narrowed over the past two decades, according to the report.
The proportion of providers offering French AS or A level has fallen from 78 per cent in 2009-10 to 54 per cent in 2021-22.
Michael Scott, senior economist at the NFER and lead author of the report, said: “Students’ post-16 education choices matter. They affect both their short-term learning outcomes, such as the skills they develop, and their long-term outcomes, including wellbeing.
“Young people are studying a narrower range of subjects, which is probably due, at least in part, to reforms introduced over the last two decades.
“It is critical that future reforms to the post-16 landscape carefully consider possible impacts on the nature and the range of subjects that students choose.”
‘The school curriculum should be interconnected’
Molly Morgan Jones, director of policy at the British Academy, warned that a failure to address a decline in humanities and arts subjects would have “knock-on effects” for the subjects in universities and “on the skills young people take out into the workforce and the wider world”.
She said: “The school curriculum should be interconnected and equitable, allowing and encouraging all students from all backgrounds to study a range of disciplines. Our students’ skills, and our societal growth, depend on it.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said its upcoming curriculum and assessment review will “bring together leading education experts, leaders and staff to transform the outdated curriculum and assessment system”.
“The renewed curriculum will ensure young people get the opportunity to access a broad and balanced curriculum, as well as crucial work and life skills, providing the foundation to succeed in both the workplace and throughout their lives,” they added.
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