Education Secretary Michael Gove said that the problem was not "elitism or snobbery" but a lack of honesty in higher education about "the subject and qualification choices which prepare students best for university study".

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For students, the main attraction of the subject is getting a qualification with hard-currency clout.

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It suggests many pupils are being taught by teachers who have no higher than an A-level qualification in the subject.

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Most A2 students will already have done their AS-levels last year - so will have had a good indication of whether it was worth continuing with a subject, or wiser to drop it and settle for the AS qualification.

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Subject to reaching the required standard, recruits would receive a social work qualification after a year.

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