These statistics from the Department for Education shows that over 640,000 young people received their GCSE results in August and over 390,000 vocational qualifications were awarded - with results back to pre-pandemic levels as grading returns to normal.
Grading has returned to normal this year for the first time after the pandemic, in line with plans set out by Ofqual over two years ago. This is to ensure that grades maintain their value and pupils get the result that best represents their performance.
Top grades for 16 year olds in England are in line with 2019, with 22.4% of entries achieving a grade 7 and above. This is up 0.6ppt from 2019. This year’s results show that 70.3% of entries received a grade 4 or above – a standard pass – which is up 0.4ppt from 2019.
The proportion of entries achieving top grades (grade 7 and above) and standard passes (grade 4) are consistent with 2019, as grading moves back to normal.
Reflecting the fact that digital is one of the fastest growing industries and contributes significantly to the UK economy, there has been an 13.5% increase in pupils taking computer science since 2019 including more girls. There are similar trends at A level.