A-level music, French and German could disappear from state schools because of severe funding pressures, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) warned today.
More than two-thirds (69 per cent) of headteachers surveyed by the union said they have had to cut back on lesson time, staff or facilities in A-level subjects in the past two years.
And ASCL general secretary Geoff Barton said some subjects were now “hanging on by their fingertips”.
One school leader who responded to the ASCL survey said: “Funding pressures are relentless and have cut our syllabus to the bone. Education is being provided for pupils on the basis of whether it can be afforded, not whether it is right for the child's needs.”
Music was the subject most likely to be cut – 39 per cent of respondents had made cuts here – followed by French (32 per cent), design and technology (31 per cent), drama (28 per cent) and German (26 per cent), according to the survey of 420 school and college leaders.
All of these five subjects have already suffered a drop in entries over the past five years, with A-level German sat by just 3,422 students in England in 2017, music by 5,610 and French by 8,539.
Funding cuts threaten sixth-forms
Funding pressures were given as the reason for cutbacks by 86 per cent of respondents – although more than half (54 per cent) also mentioned that decoupling AS and A levels had also had an impact, with many schools and colleges requiring pupils to focus on three subjects from the start rather than take a fourth option.
“If a course is not financially viable, it cannot run," one anonymous respondent to the survey said. "The moral imperative to provide the right course for the right student is a fight that is being lost to a funding crisis.”
And 28 respondents reported they were now considering closing their sixth form, mostly because of the difficulty in sustaining student numbers on the current funding level.
The survey comes the day before students pick up their A-level results, which include a greater number of reformed “tougher” A levels this year. It is the first year that grades in reformed A levels in 11 subjects, including music and languages, will be awarded.
Mr Barton said: “Subjects like A-level music, French and German are hanging on by their fingertips in the state sector because schools and colleges cannot afford to run courses with relatively small numbers of students on current funding levels.
"Their erosion will mean we have fewer musicians and linguists in the future, and this will have a long-term impact on related industries and on the number of teachers we are able to train in these disciplines.
“The immediate solution is for the government to stop treating the 16-18 sector like the poor relation of education and improve the level of funding as a matter of urgency. In the longer term, we need to boost these subjects at GCSE where they are also under pressure.”
The 16-18 sector has been particularly badly hit by government spending decisions. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that there will be a 15-20 per cent real-terms fall in funding for school sixth forms and further education between 2009-10 and 2019-20.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: "School funding will rise to a record £43.5 billion by 2020 – 50 per cent more in real terms per pupil than in 2000 – and we are protecting the base rate of funding for 16 to 19-year-olds until 2020 to ensure every young person can access the education or training needed to go on to university, apprenticeships or work.
“We want young people to have access to a wide range of high-quality options at post-16. We are supporting schools through a new national centre of excellence in modern foreign languages and regional hubs to drive up standards in the teaching of languages. We are also investing £500 million in music and arts education programmes between 2016 and 2020 to give young people the opportunity to take part in a range of activities.”
