GCSE results day 2023: higher fall in proportion of top grades in England than in other UK nations – latest updates | GCSEs
Higher fall in proportion of top grades in England than in other UK nations
Michael Goodier
The figures show the gap between the nations for top grades has increased compared with last year, as England brought their grades back in more in line with 2019 levels, but Northern Ireland and Wales took a different approach to moderating grades.
Looking at students of all ages, England saw the proportion of grades achieving seven and above fall by 4.4 percentage points compared with last year: an increase of just 0.9 points compared to pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, in Wales grades fell 3.4 points – but were up 3.3 compared with 2019. Northern Ireland saw a 2.5 point fall in top grades, leaving them four points higher than the pandemic.
Key events
Carmen Aguilar García
Given that English, maths and double science are compulsory, it is no surprise that they are the most popular subjects.
There has been little change in the number of entries this year compared to last in some of the most popular subjects like geography (which increased by 1.5%). However, others have seen big jumps, with statistics entries growing by 35%.
Other subjects chosen by 16-year-olds in England seeing double-digit growth compared to last year were social sciences, business studies, Spanish and computing.
At the other end of the table, creative subjects such as performing and expressive arts, music, drama, and art and design have seen the biggest drops, with German entries also falling.
10-year-old Lucas Tsang has been dancing around with excitement since he found out that he had achieved a grade 9 in his Maths GCSE.
Lucas said:
I can’t believe it! I’m really happy that my efforts have led to this result. It was a lot of hard work, but I enjoyed every moment of it.
In the future, I want to continue exploring advanced mathematics and maybe even contribute to solving some real-world problems using Maths.
His mum, Karen Lam, said Lucas is over the moon with his result and has “always demonstrated an exceptional aptitude for mathematics.”
She added:
Last year, inspired by a news story about a young boy who passed his GCSE Maths early, Lucas decided to take on this challenge as well. He was determined to get the highest possible grade.
As the exam approached, he voluntarily swapped his playtime for tuition, demonstrating his commitment to achieving the best grade. I believe it is essential to emphasise that intelligence alone is not sufficient for success; the right attitude and a strong work ethic are equally vital.
As part of the family’s celebration, his parents are treating him to lunch at McDonald’s – “his favourite treat,” Lam said.
Carmen Aguilar García
As a Spaniard, I am delighted to report that the number of students taking Spanish in the GCSE exams is at its highest level since at least 2016. Close to 117,000 16-year-olds in England entered for Spanish, a 12% increase compared to last year and the biggest year on year increase.
Although French continues to be the most popular language with almost 123,000 entries, Spanish has been rising fast and it is closing the gap. On the other hand, German continues its decline with only about 32,700 exams this year, a decrease of 3.8%.
More students took other modern languages (which includes Chinese, Polish and Italian) last year, with a rise of 2.5% in the number of entries compared to 2022.
Responding to today’s GCSE results, Sir Peter Lampl, Founder and chairperson of the Sutton Trust and chairperson of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:
Considering the significant disruption these youngsters have faced as a result of the pandemic, those receiving their GCSE results today should be rightly proud of their achievements.
As we move back to pre-pandemic grading standards, today’s data continues to show regional disparities in attainment. Despite a noticeable improvement in the north-east compared to 2019, it is still the region with the lowest proportion of top grades and London continues to outperform the rest of the country.
While it is encouraging that the gap between state and independent schools has narrowed, a considerable difference in attainment remains.
Analysis to follow …
Most state schools in England, including academies, comprehensives, secondary moderns and grammar schools, outperformed their pre-pandemic results in top grades and in pass rates in most cases, while independent schools and free schools saw proportionally fewer top grades than in 2019.
Grammar schools saw 59% of their entries achieve grade 7 or above, while 47% of entries from private schools gained the same. Meanwhile, 21% of entries from academies got one of the top grades, as did 19% of entries from comprehensives and middle schools.
During the pandemic, independent schools saw a disproportionate boost in the proportion of exam entries achieving the top grades, which appears to have been nullified by this years’ results. However, most independent schools take a mixture of GCSE and other equivalent qualifications, such as iGCSE, that are not included in Ofqual’s data, making comparisons difficult.
This is from the Guardian’s eduction editor, Richard Adams, and Michael Goodier
Tilly (L) and Grace (R) from St Gabriels school in Newbury look pleased as they opened their GCSE results.
The Education Endowment Foundation, an independent charity dedicated to improving social mobility through education, says that the fall in GCSE pass rates means more young people will have to retake English and maths for at least the next two years at school or college, as required by the Department for Education.
Becky Francis, the EEF’s chief executive, said:
With the adjustments to grading, the number of pupils achieving a ‘standard pass’ in GCSE English and maths has fallen to 68%, a five percentage point drop from last year. This means there’ll be more young people required to carry on studying for these qualifications in an already stretched post-16 sector. As things stand, many are unlikely to achieve a pass even through resits.
This has serious implications for individual students’ life chances. It is likely that those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds will be most affected, so the attainment gap must be carefully monitored, and support targeted towards pupils in greatest need of it.
Commenting on the publication of GCSE results in England, Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT, the teachers’ union, said:
Students and their teachers have achieved another strong set of results in the most challenging of circumstances and despite the government’s removal of mitigations put in place to account for the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This year’s students should be congratulated on securing these achievements despite years in which their education has suffered Covid disruption and underfunding.
Teachers have continued to pull out all the stops for their pupils, but have been left to do their best without the necessary levels of investment in education recovery and catchup support.
Ministers must take responsibility for their decisions which have contributed to a widening in the attainment gap between the most disadvantaged pupils and their peers.
Teachers will always do whatever it takes to secure the very best for all their pupils. It is time that teachers and pupils had a government that is prepared to do the same.
Steven Morris
In Wales, GCSE grades are lower overall than last year but higher than before Covid. Almost 22% got A* and A compared with 22% last year.
The Welsh education secretary, Jeremy Miles, said:
We have taken the same approach with GCSEs as A-levels, which is to find the midway point between 2019 and last year. The results are broadly in line with that. As with A-levels, the intention is to be back to a pre-pandemic approach by next year.
Miles spoke during a visit to meet pupils at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd in Wrexham.
He said:
The school here has put in place an awful lot of welfare and tuition support using some of the funding we have provided to schools in Wales to enable them to regain those motivational skills, the confidence, the self-esteem to have someone in school they can talk through their concerns with.
They’re a very resilient group of young people. The kind of skills – the ability to work in different ways, remotely sometimes – they’ve had to develop in the last few years will stand them in good stead for the future.
Richard Adams
Despite the fall in top GCSE grades overall, there were 1,160 young people in England who will be celebrating a full house of grade 9s in their results this summer.
Ofqual, the exam regulator for England, reported that nearly two-thirds of those with straight 9s were girls. About 500 pupils got 9s in all 10 of the subjects they sat, while 125 got 11 or more grade 9s.
Top grades in English and maths down on last year but remain slightly higher than 2019
As expected, the proportion of 16-year-olds receiving a top grade in maths and English is down in 2022, by 2.9 points and 5.6 points respectively.
However, the figures show that fears of pandemic disruption to learning leading to grades dropping below 2019 levels haven’t fully been realised, with 21.1% of maths students achieving a top grade (up 0.7 points on 2019) and 23.3% of English students also achieving grades 7-9, (up 0.7 points on 2019). Pass rates were also down on last year, but up slightly compared to 2019.
This improvement in English and maths compared with 2019 is actually a factor of Ofqual’s decision not to apply feedback from its national reference tests, which it usually uses to calibrate annual grade changes. This year’s reference tests showed significantly lower results in English than previous years, while results were also slightly lower in maths.
This is from the Guardian’s Michael Goodier and Carmen Aguilar Garcia
Higher fall in proportion of top grades in England than in other UK nations
Michael Goodier
The figures show the gap between the nations for top grades has increased compared with last year, as England brought their grades back in more in line with 2019 levels, but Northern Ireland and Wales took a different approach to moderating grades.
Looking at students of all ages, England saw the proportion of grades achieving seven and above fall by 4.4 percentage points compared with last year: an increase of just 0.9 points compared to pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, in Wales grades fell 3.4 points – but were up 3.3 compared with 2019. Northern Ireland saw a 2.5 point fall in top grades, leaving them four points higher than the pandemic.
Key events
Carmen Aguilar García
Given that English, maths and double science are compulsory, it is no surprise that they are the most popular subjects.
There has been little change in the number of entries this year compared to last in some of the most popular subjects like geography (which increased by 1.5%). However, others have seen big jumps, with statistics entries growing by 35%.
Other subjects chosen by 16-year-olds in England seeing double-digit growth compared to last year were social sciences, business studies, Spanish and computing.
At the other end of the table, creative subjects such as performing and expressive arts, music, drama, and art and design have seen the biggest drops, with German entries also falling.
10-year-old Lucas Tsang has been dancing around with excitement since he found out that he had achieved a grade 9 in his Maths GCSE.
Lucas said:
I can’t believe it! I’m really happy that my efforts have led to this result. It was a lot of hard work, but I enjoyed every moment of it.
In the future, I want to continue exploring advanced mathematics and maybe even contribute to solving some real-world problems using Maths.
His mum, Karen Lam, said Lucas is over the moon with his result and has “always demonstrated an exceptional aptitude for mathematics.”
She added:
Last year, inspired by a news story about a young boy who passed his GCSE Maths early, Lucas decided to take on this challenge as well. He was determined to get the highest possible grade.
As the exam approached, he voluntarily swapped his playtime for tuition, demonstrating his commitment to achieving the best grade. I believe it is essential to emphasise that intelligence alone is not sufficient for success; the right attitude and a strong work ethic are equally vital.
As part of the family’s celebration, his parents are treating him to lunch at McDonald’s – “his favourite treat,” Lam said.
Carmen Aguilar García
As a Spaniard, I am delighted to report that the number of students taking Spanish in the GCSE exams is at its highest level since at least 2016. Close to 117,000 16-year-olds in England entered for Spanish, a 12% increase compared to last year and the biggest year on year increase.
Although French continues to be the most popular language with almost 123,000 entries, Spanish has been rising fast and it is closing the gap. On the other hand, German continues its decline with only about 32,700 exams this year, a decrease of 3.8%.
More students took other modern languages (which includes Chinese, Polish and Italian) last year, with a rise of 2.5% in the number of entries compared to 2022.
Responding to today’s GCSE results, Sir Peter Lampl, Founder and chairperson of the Sutton Trust and chairperson of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:
Considering the significant disruption these youngsters have faced as a result of the pandemic, those receiving their GCSE results today should be rightly proud of their achievements.
As we move back to pre-pandemic grading standards, today’s data continues to show regional disparities in attainment. Despite a noticeable improvement in the north-east compared to 2019, it is still the region with the lowest proportion of top grades and London continues to outperform the rest of the country.
While it is encouraging that the gap between state and independent schools has narrowed, a considerable difference in attainment remains.
Analysis to follow …
Most state schools in England, including academies, comprehensives, secondary moderns and grammar schools, outperformed their pre-pandemic results in top grades and in pass rates in most cases, while independent schools and free schools saw proportionally fewer top grades than in 2019.
Grammar schools saw 59% of their entries achieve grade 7 or above, while 47% of entries from private schools gained the same. Meanwhile, 21% of entries from academies got one of the top grades, as did 19% of entries from comprehensives and middle schools.
During the pandemic, independent schools saw a disproportionate boost in the proportion of exam entries achieving the top grades, which appears to have been nullified by this years’ results. However, most independent schools take a mixture of GCSE and other equivalent qualifications, such as iGCSE, that are not included in Ofqual’s data, making comparisons difficult.
This is from the Guardian’s eduction editor, Richard Adams, and Michael Goodier
Tilly (L) and Grace (R) from St Gabriels school in Newbury look pleased as they opened their GCSE results.
The Education Endowment Foundation, an independent charity dedicated to improving social mobility through education, says that the fall in GCSE pass rates means more young people will have to retake English and maths for at least the next two years at school or college, as required by the Department for Education.
Becky Francis, the EEF’s chief executive, said:
With the adjustments to grading, the number of pupils achieving a ‘standard pass’ in GCSE English and maths has fallen to 68%, a five percentage point drop from last year. This means there’ll be more young people required to carry on studying for these qualifications in an already stretched post-16 sector. As things stand, many are unlikely to achieve a pass even through resits.
This has serious implications for individual students’ life chances. It is likely that those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds will be most affected, so the attainment gap must be carefully monitored, and support targeted towards pupils in greatest need of it.
Commenting on the publication of GCSE results in England, Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT, the teachers’ union, said:
Students and their teachers have achieved another strong set of results in the most challenging of circumstances and despite the government’s removal of mitigations put in place to account for the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This year’s students should be congratulated on securing these achievements despite years in which their education has suffered Covid disruption and underfunding.
Teachers have continued to pull out all the stops for their pupils, but have been left to do their best without the necessary levels of investment in education recovery and catchup support.
Ministers must take responsibility for their decisions which have contributed to a widening in the attainment gap between the most disadvantaged pupils and their peers.
Teachers will always do whatever it takes to secure the very best for all their pupils. It is time that teachers and pupils had a government that is prepared to do the same.
Steven Morris
In Wales, GCSE grades are lower overall than last year but higher than before Covid. Almost 22% got A* and A compared with 22% last year.
The Welsh education secretary, Jeremy Miles, said:
We have taken the same approach with GCSEs as A-levels, which is to find the midway point between 2019 and last year. The results are broadly in line with that. As with A-levels, the intention is to be back to a pre-pandemic approach by next year.
Miles spoke during a visit to meet pupils at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd in Wrexham.
He said:
The school here has put in place an awful lot of welfare and tuition support using some of the funding we have provided to schools in Wales to enable them to regain those motivational skills, the confidence, the self-esteem to have someone in school they can talk through their concerns with.
They’re a very resilient group of young people. The kind of skills – the ability to work in different ways, remotely sometimes – they’ve had to develop in the last few years will stand them in good stead for the future.
Richard Adams
Despite the fall in top GCSE grades overall, there were 1,160 young people in England who will be celebrating a full house of grade 9s in their results this summer.
Ofqual, the exam regulator for England, reported that nearly two-thirds of those with straight 9s were girls. About 500 pupils got 9s in all 10 of the subjects they sat, while 125 got 11 or more grade 9s.
Top grades in English and maths down on last year but remain slightly higher than 2019
As expected, the proportion of 16-year-olds receiving a top grade in maths and English is down in 2022, by 2.9 points and 5.6 points respectively.
However, the figures show that fears of pandemic disruption to learning leading to grades dropping below 2019 levels haven’t fully been realised, with 21.1% of maths students achieving a top grade (up 0.7 points on 2019) and 23.3% of English students also achieving grades 7-9, (up 0.7 points on 2019). Pass rates were also down on last year, but up slightly compared to 2019.
This improvement in English and maths compared with 2019 is actually a factor of Ofqual’s decision not to apply feedback from its national reference tests, which it usually uses to calibrate annual grade changes. This year’s reference tests showed significantly lower results in English than previous years, while results were also slightly lower in maths.
This is from the Guardian’s Michael Goodier and Carmen Aguilar Garcia
