Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the percentage change in the number of students sitting A Levels in (1) Art and Design, (2) Music, (3) Design and Technology, (4) Drama, (5), Media, (6) Film and Television Studies, and (7) Performing and Expressive Arts, for each of the last five years.

The number of A level entries is provided in the table attached (table A) for the last five academic years for which data is available (2016/17 – 2020/21).

Subjects shown are the reporting categories from the ‘A level and other 16 to 18 results’ statistical release which best correspond to the subjects requested.

Note, Media, and Film and Television Studies are historically classified and reported together as ‘Media/Film/Television Studies’. Subjects reported as ‘Other communication studies’ comprise ‘Film Studies’ when taught as a discrete subject, also ‘Creative Writing’, ‘Communication Studies’, and ‘Expressive Arts & Performance Studies’. In the 2021 release, published on 4 November 2021, more fine-grained subject level data shows that A level entries historically reported as ‘Other communication studies’ for the last 3 years are almost exclusively now made up of entries in ‘Film Studies’.

The percentage change in subject entries year-on-year is shown in the table attached (table B), including the overall percentage change between 2016/17 and 2020/21.

The table attached (table C) shows subject entries as a proportion of all entries within an academic year.

Source: ‘A level and other 16 to 18 results’ (drawn from statistical releases over several years).

Notes

1. A level entries in schools and colleges in England; all figures are revised data, except 2019/20 and 2020/21 which are provisional.
2. Covers students aged 16, 17 or 18 at the start of the relevant academic year, i.e. 31 August 2020 for 2020/21.