Asked by: Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of whether the current A-level examinations in archaeology and history of art have educational and social value; and what steps, if any, they will take to discourage the relevant examination board from implementing proposals to omit them from the examination curriculum.
Answered by Lord Nash
It is disappointing that AQA will stop developing qualifications in History of Art and Archaeology, in view of the value of having a broad range of high-quality choices available to A level students.
The Government published content for both subjects in January 2016. It is for individual exam boards to decide which qualifications to offer, and the option for AQA or another exam board to develop specifications in future will remain open. We are in discussion with the exam boards on this issue.
Neither subject is a pre-requisite for degree level study, and both are taken by a relatively small number of students. In 2015/16, there were 340 entries to A level Archaeology, and 776 entries to A level History of Art.