Poll: Are school subjects such as home economics important to education?
Dozens of GCSEs, AS and A-levels are set to be ditched in the latest stage of a major shake-up of exams.
Courses in subjects such as home economics, performing arts, environmental science, catering and human biology are among those in line to be scrapped.
But others, such as ancient history, film studies, law and media studies, could be reformed to become new, tougher qualifications.
The proposals are contained in a new consultation document published by England's exams regulator Ofqual.
GCSEs, AS and A-levels in traditional subjects such as English, maths, humanities, science and foreign languages are already being revised, with the new courses due to be brought in over the next two years.
Ofqual's new paper covers all subjects that are not already in the process of being revamped.
Under the latest proposals, the number of GCSEs, AS and A-level qualifications available to students is likely to be cut.
Many of those expected to be axed are in subjects which are similar to, or overlap other courses, according to Ofqual's consultation paper.
It says that compared with many other countries, England has an "exceptional range" of GCSE, AS and A-level subjects. The number of entries for these range from 100 in 2013 - for a GCSE in manufacturing, to 942,400 entries last year for GCSE maths.
"There are different views about the appropriateness of the range and variety of GCSE, AS and A-level subjects, and some of the more unusual subjects concern us from a standards perspective," the consultation says later.
"In England we have a large range of subjects and a variety of qualifications with different titles and some overlap (for example, biology and human biology). This can be confusing, and it makes standards difficult to maintain."
Among the GCSE courses Ofqual is proposing to discontinue are home economics - a qualification awarded to 32,064 students in 2012 - and catering - awarded to 20,891 people - both of which are listed as being similar to the new design and technology GCSE in food technology.
Performing arts at GCSE, which was awarded to 4,365 students in 2012, is seen as overlapping with new exams in dance and drama and is also set to be axed.
What do you think? Are school subjects such as home economics important to education? Vote now in our poll and leave your thoughts in the comments section below:
