A Level results day 2024: New, interactive tool shows a decade of changing A Level and GCSE uptake in humanities, arts and social sciences

On A Level results day 2024, the British Academy, the national academy for humanities and social sciences, has launched a new, interactive research tool showing a decade of changing A Level and GCSE entries for SHAPE subjects (social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy).

The SHAPE Indicators tool visually represents how many entries there have been every year over the past decade* for all humanities, arts and social science subjects offered at A Level and GCSE, and their Scottish equivalents –– allowing trends and changes to be easily spotted.

The tool is the latest addition to the Academy’s SHAPE Observatory, which serves as an independent and robust evidence base for the overall health of the SHAPE disciplines across UK education and research. The Observatory monitors the health of these subjects at all levels of education and at qualification and subject-specific levels.

Today’s A Level entries data shows an overall drop in students choosing SHAPE subjects (-1.5% in share of all entries since 2023), due to fewer students choosing social sciences and arts subjects, and more students choosing STEM subjects. However, humanities subjects’ share of overall entries has remained stable after years of decline thanks to upticks in English Literature, Languages and Classical subjects. Meanwhile, the drop in social sciences uptake has come after a period of increases in the number of students choosing to study these subjects.

Yesterday’s new report by the British Academy and the National Foundation of Educational Research, ‘Subject choice trends in post-16 education in England: Investigating subject choice over the past 20 years’, revealed that fewer students are studying humanities in post-16 education since AS and A Level qualifications were decoupled in 2015/16. More than half of post-16 students (56%) studied a humanities subject in 2015/16, compared to just 38% in 2021/22.

The report also found that compared to twenty years ago, students are choosing to study a narrower range of subjects in post-16 education – with more students making all of their choices only from a single disciplinary group, and fewer mixing subjects across SHAPE and the sciences, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

Today’s 2024 A Levels data published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) shows:

• SHAPE subjects (social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy) made up about 59% of all A Level entries in 2024 – a proportion which has been fairly consistent over the past five years.
• There has been a significant increase in A Level exam entries for English Literature this year, with an 8.0% rise since 2023, compared to a –3.0% decline since 2019.
• Other subjects which saw an increase in entries since 2023 include Classical subjects (8.3%), which has seen a rise of 22.8% since 2019; French (6.8%), despite a longer-term fall in entries of -11.5% since 2019; and other modern languages (8.0%) like Chinese, Russian, Italian, Polish and Arabic which also bucked a longer-term decline of -31.2% since 2019. Economics (3.3%) continued its growth, with an increase of 24.6% since 2019.
• Conversely, Social Sciences have declined slightly for the first time in recent years (-2.0%); drops in Sociology (-6.5%), Psychology (-2.4%) and Geography (-5.0%) underpin this decrease.
• Other subjects seeing a significant decline in entries included Drama (-5.9%), reflecting a longer-term fall of -16.9% since 2019; and Performing and Expressive Arts (-2.7%).

Professor Julia Black, President of the British Academy, said: “Congratulations to everyone picking up their A Level results today. It’s encouraging to see that more students chose English Literature, Classics and Modern Languages for their A Levels this year – but the overall drop in SHAPE subjects is concerning. Humanities, social sciences and arts subjects are hugely valuable because they give us deep understanding of cultures, histories, geographies, languages, economies, laws and behaviours – all of which are essential in a volatile world full of complex challenges.  Evidence shows that those who study these subjects are highly employable, culturally aware, critical thinkers, and the skills they gain from a SHAPE education can be used at all levels of their future careers.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• A Level results data is provided by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ).
• About the SHAPE Indicators tool: SHAPE Indicators provides data on annual entries for SHAPE subjects for GCSEs and A levels in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as National 5s, Highers and Advanced Highers in Scotland. The indicators allow users to identify trends in uptake of SHAPE disciplines. They are a data and evidence resource and, importantly, they do not provide analysis of the reasons behind increasing or decreasing entries. Users should look to other resources on the Observatory for in-depth analyses of disciplinary changes, such as our State of the Discipline reports and for a wider view to the Subject Choice Trends report.
• About the stats: Unless stated otherwise, the figures in this press release refer to changes to number of entries. The SHAPE Indicators tool explores percentage change in share of all entries.
• * The SHAPE Indicators tool analysis begins from 2012 for GCSE and A level and for Scottish qualifications, from 2014 for national 5s, 2015 for Highers, 2016 for Advanced Highers - due to incremental reforms during this period.
• The British Academy and NFER’s report ‘Subject choice trends in post-16 education in England: Investigating subject choice over the past 20 years’, shows a sharp reduction in the range of subjects chosen by students since 2015/16 when AS and A level qualifications were separated. This separation likely contributed to fewer students studying humanities subjects like languages, English and history. 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 of students studied one in 2021/22.  Read the full report: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/5468/British-Academy-report-Subject-choice-trends-post-16-education-England.pdf
• The British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. We mobilise these disciplines to understand the world and shape a brighter future. We invest in researchers and projects across the UK and overseas, engage the public with fresh thinking and debates, and bring together scholars, government, business and civil society to influence policy for the benefit of everyone.
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