On Tuesday the 27th of January 2015, AQA, due to financial pressures imposed by the government’s decision to reform A levels, made the decision not to reform the A Level in Communication and Culture.  This means that post 2018 the subject will not be taught. As there is no G.C.S.E in the subject it will be lost totally from the school and college curriculum. This is part of a cull of some fifteen courses which significantly narrows the A level curriculum, potentially restricting the experiences of a generation of students and their scope in both future employment and studies in Higher Education.

The A Level in Communication and Culture (formerly Communication Studies) is very important because of the skills which students learn and develop on the course; including a range of communication skills, how to conduct research, how to write academically and how to become a confident independent learner. The course is also an excellent foundation for undergraduate study, engaging in a critical interrogation of contemporary culture and of those who have formally attempted to do this: including Marxists, Post modernists, Feminists and Post colonialists.  No other subject currently offers this critical underpinning, vital for so much undergraduate study. Communication and Culture has in its various forms over nearly forty years enriched the teaching and learning process.

As a former Communication and Culture student aptly says:

This subject enabled me to understand the teachings of many theorists and philosophers and allowed me to consider another way to think and consider the world. This course opened my mind.

Therefore we urge all who have an interest in a broad based education to support the practitioners of this valuable subject and call on AQA to reconsider this decision.  Sign this petition to prevent this narrowing of the curriculum and keep this enabling and enriching subject as part of the A Level curriculum