Come 2017 a list of subjects will have been taken away. Many of the subjects being axed often overlap in terms of content with other subjects, according to Ofqual. A Levels in "soft" subjects such as performing arts and creative writing are going to be droppedas part of a shake up of the education system.
History of Art had initially started the process of being reassigned for next year but is now going to be axed with the rest of them. Final AS History of Art exams will be sat by pupils next year and the last A Level exams will be taken in 2018.
All subjects should be "similar in overall demand". However there are 43 subjects that are falling below the requirements. Although one of the A Levels to be cut in England is Film, which was studied by almost 9,000 teenagers.
As well as cutting a list of subjects Ofqual has also told exam boards that they must toughen up 73 other subjects including ancient history, business studies, economics, general studies, law and psychology.
This move is part of Michael Gove's plan to dramatically toughen up GCSE's and A Levels to prepare students for the demand of university. He has called for exams to be "more challenging, more ambitious and more rigorous".
Compared with many other countries, England has an "exceptional range" of GCSE, AS and A Level subjects.
The fact that some of these subjects overlapcan be confusing and makes standards more difficult to maintain.
The following subjects will no longer be available in 2017:
Accounting
Anthropology
Archaeology
Citizenship Studies
Communication and Culture
Computing- replaced by Computer Science
Creative Writing
Critical Thinking
Economics and Business (can still be taken as separate subjects)
Electronics
Engineering
General Studies
Global Development (AS only)
Health and Social care
History of Art
Home Economics: Food, nutrition and health
Humanities
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Leisure Studies
Media: Communication and Production
Moving Image Arts
Performing Arts
PureMathematics
Quantitative Methods
Science (AS only)
Science in Society
Statistics
Travel and Tourism
