Teenagers shun ‘Mickey Mouse’ GCSES in favour of core subjects

“MICKEY MOUSE” GCSES are in de- cline, with figures showing that the number of teenagers taking media studies and home economics courses has plummeted.

Meanwhile, the take-up of traditional subjects, such as history, geography and English, has increased in England’s schools since 2014.

The shift towards “core” subjects follows the 2010 introduction of the English Baccalaureate (Ebacc), a certificate that rewards pupils who obtain five A*-C – or numeric 4-9 grades – in maths, English, the sciences, history or geography, and a language.

Figures from the Department for Education (DFE) show that since 2014, the manufacturing GCSE has seen an 85.9 per cent drop in entries, while leisure and tourism has dropped by 75.9 per cent. Media studies, film studies and TV studies have dropped by 32.5 per cent over the same period, and hospitality has gone down 40.5 per cent.

However, entries for history have increased by 4.4 per cent, and geography by 17.7 per cent over the same period.

Computing, which is accepted in place of a science for the Ebacc, has seen the biggest increase, rising by 337.1 per cent over four years.

Earlier this week, Damian Hinds, the Education Secretary, said that middleclass parents were using “harder” GCSES, such as Mandarin, to signal that their children were high achieving.

He said the Ebacc was important as it “signals to all families, all students, that these are generally the subjects that will keep your options most open, whatever your future career path”.

Figures show that entries for arts subjects – including music, drama, and art and design – have also dropped.

Religious Studies has seen a 28 per cent decline in entries over the past four years, and design and technology has declined by 42.1 per cent.

Caroline Julian, of the Creative Industries Federation, blamed the decline in creative subjects on the Ebacc, saying that their exclusion from the it is a “key part of the problem” as it signals to schools “that creativity is not fundamental to future skills and jobs”.