The de facto canceling of A-level Anthropology, because of the decision by AQA exam board not to develop the course after 2018 in line with government changes to A-levels, will result in an impoverished set of choices for students in social science A levels.

The course only began in 2011 and students are now starting to become aware of the subject and to sign up in large numbers at centres where it is offered. When students find out what Anthropology involves they are invariably fascinated and stimulated. Many of them want to study Anthropology or related subjects at university once they come into contact with it.

Teaching Anthropology at this level is enormously beneficial to students, academically and personally, giving them skills of cultural awareness but also critical skills with which to look at their own societies and lives. The current A-level course is very rigorous and challenging and involves students developing thinking skills and the ability to make high level connections between pieces of knowledge.

AQA has not given the Anthropology A-level time to develop. It is only now that teacher training and resources are being developed to allow the subject to expand. If no exam board offers Anthropology A-level, pre-university students can only find out about the study of humanity through the International Baccalaureate, which is not available to most of them. Canceling A-level Anthropology seriously restricts the opportunities available to A-level students.