GCSE results day: Top grades and pass rates rise despite headteacher backlash at tougher exams

Struggling students left 'demoralised' by harder GCSEs, school leaders warned

The number of students securing top grades at GCSE rose to the highest level in four years despite the government’s major exam reforms to make the qualifications more difficult.

Across the UK, the proportion of students gaining an A grade and above – or a 7 under the new grading system – increased from 20.5 per cent last year to 20.8 per cent, the official figures revealed.

Meanwhile, 67.3 per cent were awarded a C or above – or a 4, which is now considered to be a “standard pass” – this summer, which rose by 0.4 percentage points from 66.9 per cent last year.

The figures from the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) come despite changes to GCSEs to make them tougher, with more demanding content, less coursework and a focus on exams at the end of two years.

Headteachers warned that lower-achieving pupils have been left “demoralised” by the exam reforms.

More than half a million pupils received their results, but only 837 16-year-olds in England, who took at least seven new GCSEs, scored a clean sweep of 9s – the highest grade available under the new system.

The figure is up from last year when 732 16-year-olds achieved a clean sweep. But the increase is down to a higher number of students taking all of their GCSEs on the reformed numbered grading system.

Traditional A* to G grades are being gradually replaced with 9 to 1 grades under the new GCSE system in England. Under the old grading system, thousands of students used to get straight A*s.

Of the youngsters who achieved a clean sweep, 66.4 per cent were girls and 33.6 per cent were boys. Last summer, 62 per cent of the straight 9 achievers were girls, and 38 per cent were boys.

Girls are still more likely to do better than their male peers at GCSE level – but boys have narrowed the gap at the pass rate.

And male students have begun to recover some ground in subjects such as English literature and biology.

But girls are catching up with boys and narrowing the gap in maths and physics – which are some of the only subjects where boys historically have done better.

The number of females who achieved top grades in maths rose by 0.6 percentage points to 15.5 per cent this year, while the number of boys with top grades fell by 0.1 percentage points to 16.7 per cent.

In physics, the number of females receiving top grades was up by 2.1 percentage points on last year – from 39.9 per cent to 42 per cent – while the figure for males only rose by 0.4 percentage points to 45.9 per cent.

In 2017, the first reformed GCSEs in English and maths were graded using numbers and last year an additional 20 subjects were awarded under the scale.

This summer, new grades will be awarded for the first time in a further 25 subjects – including business, design and technology, and some languages.

Dr Philip Wright, director general of JCQ, praised students and teachers for their “great job” during a period of reform, adding that this year’s results have “overall been stable”.

The national figures released by JCQ on Thursday also revealed that entries to maths, English, sciences, history, geography and modern foreign languages at GCSE rose this year.

The number of entries to computing increased by 7.2 per cent, while female entries to the subject have risen by 14 per cent in the last year. Although they still remain underrepresented in the course.

The move towards humanities and the sciences is likely to have been caused by the government’s introduction of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), a controversial league table measure which recognises teenagers who take GCSEs in more traditionally academic subjects.

Unions and arts sector leaders warned that the policy has led to a decline in a number of creative subjects being taken this year, like media, music and drama, as well as design and technology. The latter saw entries drop by 22 per cent.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We continue to be concerned about the long-term decline in the uptake of other creative arts subjects, and design and technology.

“This has been caused by the government’s obsession with measuring schools largely on performance in a small suite of traditional academic subjects combined with education cuts, which have left them without enough funding to sustain smaller-entry courses.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “I’m delighted to see an increase in those studying EBacc subjects – including science, computing and foreign languages – as well as creative studies, meaning pupils are getting the rigorous yet well-rounded education they need.”

Gavin Williamson, education secretary, said that the results show pupils are going on to further study and the world of work “with the best possible foundations, focusing on the academic cornerstones of education while also stretching themselves creatively”.