Russell Group universities replace subjects list “narrowing” the curriculum

Russell Group universities will no longer provide a list of “facilitating subjects” following criticism that it forces schools to narrow the curriculum and eliminate technical and creative subjects.

Schools were said to be discouraged from teaching subjects like art, music, and drama as well as vocational qualifications because of the list, which includes subjects such as Mathematics, English, History, Languages, Sciences, and Geography.

It was criticised for failing to recognise the arts and discriminating against students from comprehensive schools, who are not given guidance in choosing subjects and go on to be excluded from top universities.

Replacing the eight-year old subject list will be a new interactive website that allows students to enter A-level choices to see whether their combination works. This will allow pupils from poorer backgrounds to understand why subject choice matters.

The former list faced backlash from various groups. The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) called for it to be axed because it devalued and cut funding for arts subjects.

Robert Halfon MP, chair of the Education Select Committee, also called on leading universities to be more open to technical subjects and vocational qualifications and degrees to improve diversity.

Deborah Annetts, CEO of Incorporated Society of Musicians, criticised the list for damaging music education in state schools and contributing to the decline in the number of arts teachers and teaching hours for the arts.

Annetts further called into question the government’s pushing of the English baccalaureate (Ebacc), which is based on the now-scrapped list of subjects.

The Russell Group polled 600 Year 10 pupils and found that private school students are much more likely than those in comprehensive schools to aim for attending university, and choose subjects according to this goal.

Nicholas Serota of Arts Council England said he was “delighted” to see the updates to the list, which “reflect the full variety of subjects that form a well-rounded education”.

The Russell Group polled 600 Year 10 pupils and found that private school students are much more likely than those in comprehensive schools to aim for attending university, and choose subjects according to this goal.

“Universities, like many employers, value a rounded education,” stated Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group, who also said “academic versatility can only be a good thing” when “more of us are likely to change our careers”.

He also argued that no matter how much teachers strive to provide careers advice, it is difficult to replicate the support given to those in better-off homes.

In an article for The Independent, he further discussed how subject choices have a great bearing on entry into selective universities, and wrote that pupils in independent schools are more likely to aspire to university as they grow up in households where selective universities are a rite of passage.

He expressed that “informational imbalances” have to be corrected to boost social mobility, and cited research by The Sutton Trust which found that bright but disadvantaged A-level students were half as likely as wealthier classmates to be taking subjects that will provide access to a good university.

This scrapping of the “facilitating subjects” list has come amidst wider claims that elite institutions such as the universities of Oxford and Cambridge are failing to admit sufficient numbers of students from poorer and ethnic minority backgrounds.