For the first time, one of Britain’s biggest exam boards has added works by female composers to its A-level syllabus.

Exam board Edexcel announced this week that five pieces by female composers will be included as set works in the 2016 A-level syllabus. In total, there are now 12 works by female composers that can be taught to music students taking the Edexcel qualification. The move comes after a campaign launched by 17-year-old student Jessy McCabe, who was frustrated by the fact that the 63 works being taught were all composed by men.

Initially, McCabe wrote to the Edexcel to make them aware of the lack of female composers, but the exam board seemed reluctant to implement any changes to redress the gender balance.

In response to an email from McCabe, Edexcel’s head of music wrote: “Given that female composers were not prominent in the western classical tradition (or others for that matter), there would be very few female composers that could be included.”

Clara Schumann, wife of composer Robert Schumann will also be included on the new Edexcel syllabus Credit: Getty Images

McCabe then launched a petition on Change.org which attracted almost 4,000 supporters, as well as writing an open letter to the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, the executive director of the exam regulator Ofqual, Ian Stockford, and Pearson UK’s managing director, Mark Anderson.

The student urged those in charge of music education to change the A-level syllabus “so that girls are freely able and inspired to become composers, to enrich the A-level syllabus and to ultimately ensure that women’s works are valued, as they should be”.

Students will now be expected to study works by Clara Schumann, Rachel Portman, Kate Bush, Anoushka Shankar and Kaija Saariah.

New @Edexcel 2016 A Level Music syllabus now featuring set works by women composers too! More than #just1woman pic.twitter.com/RyjH0Nm0yU — Jessy McCabe (@jessy_mccabe) December 16, 2015

Clara Schumann, the wife of Robert Schumann, was a renowned pianist in her day but her compositions did not gain the same recognition received by her more famous husband. She once wrote in her diary, “I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose — there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?”

Portman is most famous for her compositions for film and television, including the 2008 film The Duchess, which starred Kiera Knightly. Shankar, the daughter of virtuoso sitarist Ravi Shankar, will be included under the Fusion music category of the syllabus. Anoushka Shankar is also the half-sister of singer Norah Jones.

McCabe welcomed the change, and told the Guardian: “The syllabus is now more diverse, inclusive and representative, allowing young people across the country to engage with a greater variety of composers and works.”