The proportion of GCSE entries awarded top grades has dropped from last year but is higher than before the pandemic, while students in England were left worse off than those in Wales and Northern Ireland where grade inflation was retained.
Hundreds of thousands of teenagers received their GCSE results today in a year when steps have been made in England to return grading to pre-pandemic levels.
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.
According to figures published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, overall, there were 203,000 fewer top grades (7/A) compared to last year, but there were 142,000 more top grades this year than in 2019.
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 allow a pupil to get the grade they would have received before the pandemic even if their quality of work is slightly weaker this year.
In England, the percentage of GCSE entries 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 don’t 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.
Many years ago when a student was granted an A grade, that was something truly special. Now, it’s basically the norm with the education system being dumbed down.
Back then, when you took your exams, you stood or fell on what you’d been taught and could remember. No marks for class work, and all you took into the exam room were a pen, pencils, ruler, rubber and your brain.
The fact is, you either have it or you don’t, and most university places are for those who want to study medicine, law or economics, but there are a lot of people who never went to university or didn’t do as well at school as they should but have gone on to do extremely well for themselves because common sense can’t be taught.
And those who did get degrees just ended up in a call centre or a completely unrelated occupation, but don’t worry kids, there are plenty of jobs in the Amazon Warehouses, even the jobs the robots feel are beneath them that need to be done.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 