Parents of pupils taking their GCSEs today criticised the ‘unfair’ return back to pre-pandemic grading as one union insisted it had wanted a further year of transition.
Hundreds of thousands of teenagers in Britain received their results today in a year when efforts have been made in England to return grading to pre-pandemic levels.
But experts said students had faced disruption from Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis, with a disproportionate impact on those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
They added that pupils in England had faced a bigger impact than those in Wales and Northern Ireland which have taken an extra year to move back to 2019 grading.
Some parents were furious, and one said on X: ‘I am so angry with this Government and blame them 100 per cent. I think it’s really unfair how kids are being treated.
‘We collect GCSE results today, I know my daughter did her best. But the fact their first year was in lockdown should have been taken into consideration.’
A Year 11 student also wrote on X: ‘I got better marks and nine GCSEs. But due to the increase in grades, what would’ve been grade 7s and 6s are now 5s and 4s. I got a 98 on geography and still only got a 4, yet I got a 64 on the mocks and got a 6.’
And Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, told MailOnline today: ‘Wales and Northern Ireland have taken an additional year to move back to 2019 grading and this has inevitably been reflected in today’s results.
Portsmouth Grammar School’s Annabel Bolton got 7s and 8s in her GCSEs today. Her mother Helen said: ‘I am conscious of the grade boundaries have gone up significantly therefore the fact she has done so well is for me very pleasing knowing how difficult it has been.’
Poppy, who opened her results at Longcroft School in Beverley, East Yorkshire, today, told ITV’s This Morning: ‘I’m OK, I’ve sort of come to terms with it. Slightly disappointed about my drama grade, but I tried my hardest so it’s OK’
‘We had pressed for a further year of transition in England, to ensure fairness to students who have faced disruption and challenging circumstances due to the pandemic.
‘While this was not agreed to by the Government, it’s important for students to remember that disparities in grading in different parts of the UK are widely known by sixth forms, colleges, employers and training providers, and this will be taken into account. Students everywhere can be proud of their achievements against a difficult backdrop.’
One social media user on X also said: ‘Got to feel for all those that got their GCSE results today – they have been screwed by Covid and teacher strikes and then still affected by the stricter marking and increase in grade boundaries. Really unfair.’
One headteacher in Brighton expressed her delight at the GCSE results of the year group ‘most affected’ by Covid-19.
Shelley Baker, head of Varndean School, said despite national ‘doom and gloom’ with general results down in some areas, she found pupils had performed ‘on par’ with the last few years.
Ms Baker said one of the big challenges was getting pupil attendance back up since Covid.
She said: ‘My duty is to get students back into school, we know when they are here they’re going to do well.’
But she added it is a balancing act on how to push pupils while recognising the impact on mental health and their needs as waiting lists are ‘years long’.
At Portsmouth Grammar School today, Annabel Bolton, 16, from Southsea, Hampshire, said she planned to go on to study A-levels in English, French and politics with the aim of going into law, having achieved 7s and 8s in her GCSEs at the private school.
Pupils at Ark Greenwich Free School in South East London receive their GCSE results today
Raymond Xie (left) opens his GCSE results at Ffynone House School in Swansea this morning
Evie England (centre) receives her GCSE results at the City of London Academy this morning
Tilly (left) and Grace celebrate their results at St Gabriel’s School in Newbury, Berkshire, today
Lisa Nguyen (left) and Scarlett Granger get their results at the City of London Academy today
Carolina Quintino from Ukraine reacts with mother Iryna at the City of London Academy today
(From left) Oliver Keown, Izzy Martin, Selena Byrnes, Anna Brewster, Katie Carson, Chloe Lyons, Luke Ryan and Eve Moore at Sullivan Upper School Grammar School in Belfast today
She added: ‘I am happy, it’s been hard but the teachers have been helpful and made it a lot easier. I will be going out to celebrate with friends.’
Her mother, Helen, a teacher, said: ‘I am conscious of the grade boundaries have gone up significantly therefore the fact she has done so well is for me very pleasing knowing how difficult it has been.’
But others were disappointed about their grades, including Poppy, who opened her results at Longcroft School in Beverley, East Yorkshire, today. She told ITV’s This Morning: ‘I’m OK, I’ve sort of come to terms with it. Slightly disappointed about my drama grade, but I tried my hardest so it’s OK.’
It comes as the proportion of GCSE entries awarded top grades fell from last year but was higher than before Covid-19 – while students in England were left worse off than those in Wales and Northern Ireland where grade inflation was retained.
More than a fifth (22.0 per cent) of UK GCSE entries were awarded the top grades – at least a 7 or an A grade – this year, down by 4.3 percentage points on last year when 26.3 per cent of entries achieved the top grades. However, this remains higher than the equivalent figure for 2019 – before the pandemic – of 20.8 per cent.
Overall, there were 203,000 fewer top grades (7/A) compared with last year, but there were 142,000 more top grades this year than in 2019, according to data from the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The proportion of entries getting at least a 4 or a C – considered a ‘standard pass’ – has fallen from 73.2 per cent in 2022 to 68.2 per cent this year. This is a drop of five percentage points, but higher than 67.3 per cent in 2019. The overall rate for 1/G or above is 98 per cent, down from 98.4 per cent in 2022 and 98.3 per cent in 2019.
In England, exams regulator Ofqual said this year’s results would be lower than last year and they would be similar to those in 2019. But Ofqual has built protection into the grading process which should enable a pupil to get the grade they would have received before the pandemic even if their quality of work is a little weaker this year.
The percentage of GCSE entries in England awarded 7/A or above was 21.6 per cent this year – down 4.4 percentage points from last year. In Wales, it was 21.7 per cent, down 3.4 points. And in Northern Ireland, it was 34.5 per cent, down 2.5 points.
In Northern Ireland and Wales, exam regulators say they do not expect to return to pre-pandemic levels until next year. In Wales, results were midway between those awarded in 2022 – the first year students sat exams following Covid-19 – and 2019.
It comes after the pandemic led to an increase in top grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.
Shelley Baker, head of Varndean School in Brighton, said despite national ‘doom and gloom’ with results down in some areas, her pupils had performed ‘on par’ with the last few years
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, told MailOnline that the union had ‘pressed for a further year of transition in England’
Last week, the proportion of A-level entries achieving top grades fell – with some 73,000 fewer top A-level grades than last year – but it remained above pre-pandemic levels.
Girls continued their lead over boys for the top GCSE grades, with 24.9 per cent of entries awarded 7/A or above compared with 19.1 per cent for males – a gap of 5.8 percentage points.
But the gap has narrowed from last year when girls were ahead of boys by 7.4 percentage points (30.0 per cent girls, 22.6 per cent boys) and from 2019 when girls led by 6.5 percentage points.
It is the narrowest lead enjoyed by girls at 7/A since 2009.
The gender gap has also narrowed for entries achieving a grade 4 or above.
According to figures from Ofqual, the number of 16-year-old students in England who received a 9 – the highest grade under the numerical system – in all their subjects has nearly halved from last year.
Some 1,160 16-year-olds in England taking at least seven GCSEs achieved a grade 9 in all their subjects, compared with 2,193 last year and 837 in 2019.
While traditional A*-G grades are used in Northern Ireland and Wales, in England these have been replaced with a 9-1 system.
A 4 is broadly equivalent to a C grade, and a 7 is broadly equivalent to an A.
But one academic claimed that GCSEs should not have reverted to pre-pandemic grading because of the strain on teenagers since the pandemic.
Mary Richardson, professor of educational assessment at University College London’s Institute of Education said England should have taken a slower approach to pre-pandemic marks as seen in Wales and Northern Ireland.
She told The Times: ‘What happened with Covid has exposed the lack of resources and we can never go back to the way things were before.
‘We have problems with attendance and some of the most vulnerable children have disappeared, they’re ghosting away.’
Professor Richardson added that the return to 2019 grading was ‘too harsh’ when factoring in Covid, Brexit, funding changes, strikes and how many teachers were leaving the profession.
Business studies has seen the biggest jump in entries among major subjects this year – up 14.8 per cent on last year – while Spanish entries have increased by 11.3 per cent compared with 2022.
More than 390,000 certificates were awarded to students for Level 2 vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) taken in schools and colleges alongside, or as an alternative, to GCSEs.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: ‘An enormous amount of hard work has gone into these qualifications in often difficult circumstances and the young people receiving their results today deserve great credit for what they have achieved.’
He added: ‘We would caution against direct comparisons between this year’s grades and those in 2019 because of the disproportionate impact of the pandemic and subsequent cost-of-living crisis on young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Students react as they receive their GCSE results at the City of London Academy today
Students embrace with happiness over their results
A pleased Nada Tazouti celebrates her results at the City of London Academy this morning
Seb Murphy gets his results with parents Helen and Ben at Bradford Grammar School today
Pupils at Ark Greenwich Free School in south-east London receive their GCSE results today
Hard work has paid off for students at the City of London Academy today
Mother Niamh Servini reacts after her sons Shane and Charlie open their GCSE results at Ffynone House School in Swansea today
‘It is likely that the outcomes for many of these young people will be affected by these factors and this may also impact on the results of schools which serve disadvantaged communities.
‘The Government has failed to grasp the gravity of this issue. It did not invest sufficiently in education recovery from the pandemic – causing its own recovery commissioner to resign in protest – and it has failed to address the high level of child poverty in the UK. We are concerned that this will lead to a widening of the attainment gap between rich and poor.’
Some sixth forms and colleges could decide to admit pupils with lower GCSE grades on to A-level courses this summer compared with recent years.
And Mr Barton suggested greater attention may be given to the induction process for this cohort of students starting sixth form next month to ensure ‘they cope as best they can’.
He said it was ‘likely’ that sixth forms and colleges could lower their entry requirements for this year’s cohort of students.
Mr Barton said: ‘You’re not going to expect the same standard of youngsters coming in when you know that nationally the bar has been moved back to where it was in 2019.
‘It’s not a straightforward thing because what you don’t want is a youngster who’s got a grade 6 going on to a physics course and not coping with it because they’ll drop out.’
When asked whether there could be more drop-outs from A-level courses, Mr Barton said: ‘I think what it will mean is that the way in which teaching starts in September will be the main focus. There will be more emphasis on induction skills to make sure those youngsters very quickly feel confident.
‘My guess is that what we will see is a generosity of spirit not just in who is brought into a sixth form, but also the individual attention they get from their teachers to make sure they cope as best they can.’
Dhruv Saw hugs his sister after opening his results at Ffynone House School in Swansea today
Pupils at Ark Greenwich Free School react with joy as they receive their GCSE results today
Orphee Bony and Tim Baker open their results at Ffynone House School
Pupils at Ark Greenwich Free School compare their results today
Pupils open their results at Longcroft School in Beverley, East Yorkshire, on ITV this morning
Libby celebrates her GCSE results at St Gabriel’s School in Newbury, Berkshire, this morning
Pupils arrive at Ark Greenwich Free School to receive their GCSE results today
Students at Longcroft School in Beverley, East Yorkshire, on ITV’s Good Morning Britain today
A teacher looks at her student’s results at Ark Greenwich Free School
Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said: ‘The fear for thousands of pupils is they will miss out on the basic grades they need to get into sixth form – which has the potential to damage their future life prospects.’
Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA), said it was ‘possible’ that some sixth forms and colleges will lower the GCSE grades required for entry compared with last year.
He said: ‘I think entry level requirements compared to the last two years might be flexed to accommodate people who have got lower grades than they would have got in the last two years.
‘But what no-one wants to do is to raise false hopes by saying ‘Oh, you’ve got 3s and 4s in your GCSEs. I’m sure last year they would have been 4s and 5s so let’s put you on an A-level course’. Because the bottom line is if you do that you risk a young person being overstretched and very unhappy.’
Earlier this week, Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research (CEER) at the University of Buckingham, suggested 300,000 fewer top GCSE grades could be awarded this summer.
Schools minister Nick Gibb acknowledged that progress on closing the attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils had ‘been undone’ during the pandemic and said ‘we need to get back to the reform programme’.
Asked on BBC Breakfast if there is evidence that the Government ‘s efforts have worked, Mr Gibb said: ‘Inevitably the performance of disadvantaged children is lower than more advantaged peers.
‘And that’s why from 2010 we have sought to close that attainment gap.’
He added: ‘We did achieve a 9 per cent closing of that gap for secondary and we closed the gap by 13 per cent for primary, but that has been undone, as you say, by Covid, and now we need to get back to normality.
‘We’ve got the recovery programme happening in our schools right now. And then we need to get back to the reform programme to make sure that we can continue to close that gap.’
Mr also said it was important to get GCSE grading ‘back to normal’.
Speaking on GB News, he offered his congratulations to students and thanks to teachers, saying: ‘We are returning 2019 grading. It’s important to get back to normal, away from the three years when we had higher grades because of teacher assessed grades and then the transition last year from teacher assessed grades back to 2019 levels.
‘We’ve seen a big increase based on provisional numbers in computer science, in languages.’
Meanwhile, Mr Gibb said differences in GCSE grading across the UK should not disadvantage pupils.
Asked if some pupils were being disadvantaged through a lack of continuity across all four nations of the UK when it comes to grading, he told GB News: ‘No they won’t be because the sixth form or wherever they are going to go next in the next phase of their education, they take that into account, they know there is a difference approach to grading.
‘And we saw that last week with A Levels, that universities are aware of the different approaches to these qualifications in different parts of the United Kingdom.
‘And the same applies to GCSEs. Most young people will transition to an institution local to them.’
On Times Radio, Mr Gibb said ‘it is fair to have the grading back to 2019 levels’.
He added: ‘We want to return to 2019 grading standards. We want to get back to normal so we make sure that we retain the value and credibility of GCSEs and A-levels.
‘These young people have been in schools for two years, they have had disruption to their education particularly in years eight and nine and we have had very significant recovery programmes, a £5 billion recovery programme to help those young people catch up.
‘But it is important to get back to normal. Exams are the fairest system, and it is fair to have the grading back to 2019 levels consistent to all the years prior to 2019 and consistent with the years next year and the year beyond as well.’
Asked again about the attainment gap for this year’s results, he said: ‘We’ll see the results when they are released later this morning.’
Asked on Sky News if he fears there will be a record number of GCSE resits this year in the autumn, Mr Gibb said: ‘I’m not sure about that. We will see what happens when the results come out later on this morning.’
Speaking about results due to be released and the impact of the pandemic on students, he said: ‘Yes they have undoubtedly suffered disruption to their education this particular group of youngsters will have suffered in year 8 and 9 when we had lockdown.
‘But it’s important to get back to normal grading. They have worked extremely hard to take their GCSEs. The teachers have prepared them well.
‘We have £5 billion of recovery funding for schools to help children catch up from… lost education. So I’m optimistic about the results when they come out later this morning for those young people.’
On LBC, Mr Gibb suggested he does not see any reason why the number of GCSE retakes will be different from previous years.
Asked about concerns more students will fail key subjects and so have to do retakes, Mr Gibb said: ‘This is going back to 2019. So we know roughly what proportion of young people retaking those GCSEs in 2019. I don’t see why this year will be any different from previous years.’
Mr Gibb also said the Government has ‘eliminated’ grade inflation for GCSEs and A-levels.
Asked if he thinks there were already too many top level grades in 2019, Mr Gibb said: ‘No, I don’t. I think we have eliminated grade inflation from the GCSE and A-level system. It’s one of the great achievements of our education reforms.’
Speaking earlier on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he was asked about Education Secretary Gillian Keegan’s comments that students will not be asked about their A-level grades in 10 years’ time.
Mr Gibb said: ‘The question she was asked was what happens in 10 years’ time when the person moves jobs… and she made the absolutely valid point that, in 10 years’ time, when you’re applying for another job, they don’t necessarily look at A-level grades, they will look at what you’ve achieved in those 10 years.
‘Of course she and I take great store by the grades of A-levels that were achieved last week and the grades that young people have worked really hard for.’
Margaret Farragher, chief executive of the JCQ, said: ‘This year’s results recognise the fantastic achievements of students across the country. They have worked incredibly hard throughout the pandemic period to achieve these well-earned grades.
‘The 2023 results show that students are well equipped to continue their educational journey.’
Ms Keegan said: ‘This cohort have shown tremendous resilience in recent years and should be proud of all the work they’ve done to reach this milestone.
‘Grading is returning to normal which means a pupil who would have achieved a grade 4 before the pandemic is just as likely to achieve that this year.’
She added: ‘Students now have more options to choose from than ever before – such as our high-quality T-levels, including legal and agriculture starting from this September.
‘They can also take A-levels or earn and learn on a wide range of apprenticeships, from journalism to accountancy.
‘Whichever path students decide to take, they can have confidence it will set them up for a successful career. I wish everyone the very best as they move on to their next chapter.’
In Scotland, the national results for the National 5 qualifications were published earlier in the month and showed that the pass rate was 78.8 per cent – down from 80.8 per cent last year, but up from 78.2 per cent in 2019.