Gender gap widens at top GCSEs

25 August 2011 Last updated at 04:56 ET

Students starting GCSE courses in 2012 will have to sit all their exams at the end of the course

Girls have increased their lead on boys for top grades in GCSEs, in another record-breaking year for passes.

More exam entries were given the top A and A* grades and just under 70% were awarded between an A* and a C grade.

About 26% of exams taken by girls were given the top grades, while just under 20% of those taken by boys were.

About 750,000 pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are finding out their GCSE results.

Students in Scotland found out the results of their Highers and Advanced Highers earlier this month.

Details of the GCSE results have just been released.

They show there was an increase in the proportion of entries awarded between an A* and a C grade. A total of 69.8% of entries made that grade.

There were more A and A* grades awarded too – with 23.2% of entries making that grade.

But the overall pass rate (A* to E) dropped slightly to 92.7%.

Results day always shows the trends among schools for GCSE subjects and this year sees an increase in the numbers taking individual sciences but a continued fall in numbers taking history, geography and modern foreign languages.

For the first time, most courses this year were taken in bite-size chunks, although course work has been cut down and replaced with school-based controlled assessments.

But Education Secretary Michael Gove has said he wants this modular system to end and a return to exams being taken at the end of two years of study.

He says this will end what he calls a “culture of re-sits” and restore rigour to the exams system.

Teenagers beginning their GCSE courses in 2012 will do their exams under the new system – at the end of their courses.

The performance gap between boys and girls is the widest ever at the top grades of A* and A.

Last year there was a difference of 5.7 percentage points and this year it is 6.7.

Results show the continuing trend for grades in Northern Ireland to be highest, with England second and then Wales.

In Northern Ireland, nearly 75% of GCSE exams scored between an A* and a C grade. In England, 69% made that grade and in Wales 66% did so.

‘Worrying trends’

Entries for French and German fell again this year, as did Spanish – the first reported decrease for this language since 2006.

History and geography have also seen a decline in entries, with history entries down around 2,700 from last year and geography entries dropping by 13,800.

The government has brought in a new measure to try to reverse the decline in these subjects, which ministers say should be at the heart of a good education.

The new measure – called the English Baccalaureate – will show that a student has achieved a good GCSE pass (A* to C) in five key subjects including maths, English, a language, two sciences and either geography or history.

Jim Sinclair, director of the Joint Council for Qualifications, which represents the exam boards, said: “The rise of biology, physics and chemistry is welcome news, as is the increased performance in maths and English.

“However, the continuing decline of modern foreign languages and the growing divide in performance between boys and girls at the top grades are worrying trends.”

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: “Today we can congratulate thousands of ng people as they collect their GCSE results and celebrate the culmination of five years of secondary education. No-one should underestimate the hard work and application needed to gain GCSE qualifications.

“But we have to make sure we prepare ng people for the future, whether they are going onto further education, training or into the workplace.

“While it is encouraging to see the rising uptake in maths and single sciences, it is worrying that once again there are falling numbers studying languages. Through the English Baccalaureate, we want to make sure all pupils have the chance to study the core academic subjects which universities and employers demand.”

— ’re ’s , . : A ‘Malign Intellectual Subculture’ – George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.