BUDDING Alan Shearers and Kurt Nogans could soon be studying for an A-level in football at East Lancashire schools and colleges.

The Associated Examining Board is finalising plans for the new A-level which could be offered from September.

It will make every schoolboy's dream come true by offering a course where around 30 per cent of marks are determined by performance on the field, and the rest by all round knowledge of the game.

And despite accusations that the A-level will be a "Mickey Mouse" subject, there seems to be plenty of grass roots support for the idea. Michael Austin, principal of Accrington and Rossendale College, accused critics who branded it a joke of being snobbish. "People said that of computing when it first came out," he said.

"They also said it of theatre studies and media studies but these are industries which earn millions of pounds."

"Football is very much a part of national life and people make careers out of it."

He added: "At the moment we train apprentices from clubs like Manchester United, Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers.

"They come to study subjects like business and leisure management so they have something to fall back on when their careers end."

Mr David Green, assistant principal of Burnley College, said that he was "interested but wary" about the A-level course.

"I would imagine it would have a lot of popular appeal," he said. "The AEB is a very innovative exam board and we would be interested in looking at it. However, we would expect it to have a very strong theory element.

"We would be very careful about taking it on unless we were convinced that universities would consider it to be an appropriate A-level alongside other A-levels. We'd be wary of taking on a soft alternative to other A-levels."

And Mr Michael Finlay, principal of St Mary's Sixth Form College in Blackburn, agreed that he would have to examine the course's credibility before deciding to offer it to students.

"It's an interesting idea because a lot of students are interested in football and quite a significant number already follow sports studies and PE courses," he said.

"We don't dismiss courses even if they appear to be "Mickey Mouse" without at first investigating them.

"But we'd have to investigate its credibility and whether it has any currency in the labour market or for later stages of students' education."

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