Many college students in England receiving their A-level grades on Thursday shall be joyful after general outcomes confirmed a rise within the variety of As and A*s, exceeding not solely final yr’s outcomes, however these recorded earlier than the disruption brought on by the pandemic. However, disparities stay between northern and southern England, and in Northern Eire and Wales the place outcomes fell in contrast with final yr, in addition to between personal and state colleges.
It’s the second yr in England that A-level and GCSE evaluation has returned to pre-pandemic norms. Exams had been cancelled in 2020 and 2021 after Covid closed colleges for lengthy durations, and A-level grades based mostly on academics’ predictions led to a pointy spike in high outcomes.
There has since been a gradual return in direction of 2019 norms, with college students final yr seeing a pointy fall in high A-level grades on the earlier two years, as deliberate. Specialists within the sector had warned of a attainable additional fall this yr, to carry outcomes again according to 2019, however this didn’t materialise in England, with 9.3% of entries gaining A* grades, up on 8.6% final yr, and seven.7% in 2019.
For As and A*s, 27.6% of entries gained the 2 highest grades, in contrast with 26.5% final yr and 25.2% in 2019. England’s {qualifications} regulator, Ofqual, rejected any suggestion of a return to grade inflation, placing this yr’s improved outcomes right down to the power of the cohort, whose possibilities could have been improved by sitting GCSEs – versus receiving teacher-assessed grades – and in consequence making higher knowledgeable decisions about which A-level programs to observe.
In distinction, it’s the first yr that different elements of the UK have returned to pre-pandemic evaluation, with none examination changes, and in consequence there have been falls in attainment, as anticipated. In Northern Eire, 30.3% of entrants achieved A or A*, down by seven share factors in contrast with 2023, whereas in Wales the proportion fell from 34% to 27.6%, however each remained greater than in 2019.
Regardless of the leap in high grades, there stay large and regarding regional variations in England, as in earlier years, with areas within the north nonetheless lagging far behind London and the south-east. Whereas each area noticed a rise in high grades, London had the very best proportion of As and A*s at 31.3%, up 1.3 share factors on final yr. The bottom proportion was within the East Midlands, with 22.5%, up 0.2 factors on 2023.
Myles McGinley, the director of regulation on the examination board OCR, welcomed an enchancment in outcomes for north-east England, which had the bottom proportion of high grades final yr at 22% and noticed its share rising to 23.9% this yr, barely closing the hole with London and the south-east. The training secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has already recognized the regional disparities in attainment as a key concern which the brand new authorities is eager to deal with. This yr’s outcomes recommend change shall be gradual.
Although college students this yr had the advantage of sitting GCSE exams, they nonetheless suffered two years of disruption as a consequence of Covid, and it’s seemingly many college students’ efficiency will mirror that, with low attendance, the price of residing and the disruption brought on by the Raac disaster having affected many. One headteacher stated high grades had been up in his faculty’s outcomes: “However there’s a squishy bit within the center – college students who may need seen greater GCSE grades than regular in 2022, as a consequence of changes being in place, who could be upset with their A-level outcomes.”
Lee Elliot Main, a professor of social mobility on the College of Exeter, stated: “I’m involved the A-level outcomes this yr will present rising tutorial divides, fuelled by Covid studying losses, record-level faculty absences and rising baby poverty. This shall be demonstrated by stark achievement gaps between state and personal colleges, regional disparities in achievements, amid falling numbers of the poorest college students making use of for college.”
The opposite hanging story from this yr’s outcomes is the large and rising reputation of maths, which turns into the primary A-level to exceed 100,000 entries, whereas 17,000 pupils took additional maths, making it the topic with the largest year-on-year development in pupil numbers, up 20% on final yr. There have been additionally will increase in physics, computing and different sciences, with English literature and French additionally seeing development in numbers, probably because of improved availability of language academics.
Whereas there was nice enthusiasm from some quarters for the expansion in maths, others sounded a word of warning. Pepe Di’Iasio, the overall secretary of the Affiliation of College and School Leaders, stated: “It’s nice to see that maths continues its all-conquering trajectory as the most well-liked A-level topic, however different topics, resembling artistic arts and design and expertise, have fared much less effectively over the previous decade.
“It is a results of earlier authorities coverage which has tended to marginalise these topics. It’s worrying to see an additional important decline in entries to drama this yr, and we hope that the brand new authorities’s curriculum and evaluation evaluation will champion these topics as they’re very important each to our cultural life and our economic system.”
