Girls continue to outperform boys in GCSEs

Pages of results as they come in...

Teenagers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are receiving their GCSE grades today, and the results show that it has been another record-breaking year.

Nearly seven in 10 entries were awarded at least a C grade, and almost one in four achieved an A or A*.

In total, the A*-C pass rate rose for the 23rd year in a row.

The results, published by the Joint Council for Qualifications shows that overall, girls are still outperforming boys, continuing the trend of the last two decades.

The gender gap has widened slightly at grade A-A*. This year, 25.5% of girls' entries were awarded at least an A grade compared to 19.5% of boys' entries - a gap of 6%.

This has been widening since 2007, when the gap was 5.2%. And in 1989, the gap was just 1.5%.

Boys did outperform girls in maths for the second year running, the results showed, with 58.6% of boys' entries scoring at least a C compared with 58.3% of girls'.

Today's national results also reveal a huge rise in the numbers of pupils sitting their English and maths GCSEs at least a year early.

In total, some 83,000 pupils, more than one in 10, sat their maths GCSE at the age of 15 or younger - a 37% increase on 2009.

And 66,900 pupils, just under one in 10, sat their English GCSE at the age of 15 or younger - a 50% rise on last year.

The figures are likely to reignite the debate over whether GCSE exams are getting easier.

It was suggested that the trend is partly down to the last government scrapping Sats tests for 14-year-olds. The move has meant some schools now start GCSE studies a year earlier.

Dr John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said: "The end of the Sats tests means that schools are able to be more flexible with the Key Stage 3 curriculum and the timing of GCSEs.

"For high-achieving students, schools are able to compress the Key Stage 3 curriculum and allow them to start some GCSEs a year early. Schools are working hard to stretch their most able students and make sure that they have the opportunity to gain as many qualifications as possible. Some students are starting AS modules in year 11 and others are using the time to concentrate on other GCSE subjects."

Dr Dunford added that a "few" schools may be entering pupils for exams early so that if they fail they get another chance at the qualification.

Clara Kenyon, acting chief executive of the OCR exam board, said: "Because there is no longer testing at Key Stage 3, some schools have shortened that part of the curriculum and spend longer time studying Key Stage 4 (GCSEs), and submit candidates when they feel they are ready."

Brian Lightman, ASCL general secretary elect, said the gender gap was more to do with the examining system than what children actually learn.

Girls do better at coursework, and boys do better when sitting structured exams, he said.

The results showed that while the pass rate has risen again this year, there was another slump in the numbers of pupils taking French and German.

The numbers of pupils taking GCSEs in the three sciences - biology, chemistry and physics - has increased, although the proportion being awarded top grades has fallen.

Overall, 69.1% of all GCSE entries were awarded at least a C grade, up two percentage points on 2009. More than one in five (22.6%) entries achieved an A* or an A, up one percentage point on last year.

The rises came despite the number of entries dipping again this year - there were more than 5.37 million entries, compared with 5.47 million in 2009.

After a drop in the number of English entries being awarded a C last year, the pass rate has risen this summer. Almost two thirds (64.7%) of English entries gained at least a C grade, up from 62.7% in 2009.

In maths, 58.4% of entries achieved a C, up from 57.2% last summer.

French entries are down by 5.9%, and it has dropped out of the list of top 10 subjects for the first time.

Entries for German have also dropped by 4.5%.

Bucking the trend is Spanish, which saw a 0.9% rise.

More teenagers are also opting for other modern foreign languages - entries for Chinese are up by 5.2%, Portuguese by 9.6% and Polish by 12%.