5th September 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The 2013 GCSE results have been released, showing a continuing trend in falling grades. Over 600,000 students in the UK have received their results, as schools say that confusion over changes to exams has caused a great deal of turbulence to their education. The number of papers awarded A*-C has fallen from 69.4% last year to 68.1%, a decrease which is likely to be politically significant given the controversial changes that have been made to exams. The results were down across the board, with the number of students gaining the top grades of A* and A falling from 22.4% to 22.3%, in addition to the overall pass rate falling marginally for the first time since the introduction of the new GCSEs.
Particularly significant for schools was the fall in students achieving A*-C grades in English and Maths. In English, A*-C grades were achieved in 63.6% of papers, representing a fall of 0.5%, while Maths results fell by 0.8%. Another marked trend was the increase in entries for subjects such as foreign languages and humanities at GCSE, subjects which were previously declining at this level. This is likely to be due to schools promoting these subjects amongst their students now that the English Baccalaurate, a new league table measure, grades on how many students study these subjects in addition to English, Maths and Science. The increased uptake in languages in particular will be welcomed by the government and employers, as the declining interest in languages in previous years has been a significant cause for concern.
However, the overall fall in results has served to highlight the problems with the exams this year, and the pressure that schools are put under for their students to achieve at least C grades in the exams that they take. The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) has said that the trend for worsening GCSE results is attributable to the number of students sitting exams a year early, particularly in Maths and English. Schools are encouraging students to take exams early, as this gives them an opportunity to retake the year after should the results not be what was hoped for. The JCQ described this as a damaging trend, which was driven by an accountability system which focussed schools inspections on how many students get at least a C grade in English and Maths.