Migrants to UK will be required to pass A Level standard of English - WTF?

[Emrys]

6. Has the A-level English curriculum changed since I took it in the 1970s?

I recall it as being overly obsessed with making us read dated works, many of which held little or no interest, drawn from a very restrictive canon, and playing at being amateur critics. Ugh.

My standard of English language had been very good since an early age (I was reading at age 4, and was judged by a secondary school teacher who saw one of my short stories to have been up to O-level standard in composition by the age of 9), but at A-level it felt like I stagnated because there was no focus on truly creative writing, which was my love. I came out of the course with a lot less enthusiasm for the language than I had when I started it, and I can't say my command of it improved meaningfully.

So what do they mean by "A level equivalent standard in speaking, listening, reading and writing"? And why set that arbitrary bar if not to throw up unnecessarily daunting barriers, and no doubt enrich whoever the government engages to run the courses?

Most indigenous people in the UK get by just fine with some sort of O-level English standard, arbitrary as its hoops are. And some of the technically skilled people I've known at work and in everyday life would have struggled and likely failed to pass even O-level, but they've certainly had their uses.