Department for Education
School Standards Minister, Nick Gibb, said:
Today, hundreds of thousands of 16-year-olds find out the results of 2 years or more of hard work and study. They will now move onto the next phase of their education well equipped for what lies ahead and I would like to thank their teachers whose dedication and hard work has helped them achieve success.
The governments new gold-standard GCSEs in English and maths have been benchmarked against the best in the world, raising academic standards for pupils. These reforms represent another step in our drive to raise standards, so that pupils have the knowledge and skills they need to compete in a global workplace.
The fruits of these reforms will be seen in the years to come, but already pupils and teachers are rising to the challenge with more than 50,000 top 9 grades awarded across the new GCSEs and more than two thirds of entries sitting the tougher English and maths exams securing a grade 4 or C and above - a standard pass.
As we saw with last weeks new A-levels, we are beginning to see our reforms translating into higher standards, improving opportunities and the life chances of millions of young people and helping to fulfil the voracious demand for knowledgeable and skilled young people from Britains dynamic and growing economy.
Todays (24 August, 2017) GCSE results show:
- Across English language, English literature and maths, there were 51,257 grade 9s awarded
- Entries in the reformed GCSE subjects of English language, English literature and maths all increased from last year
- There have been record entries into geography GCSEs this year
- Post-16 attainment for a standard pass in English has risen from 24.4% last year, to 31.1% in England
- Attainment in modern foreign languages remains broadly stable, including French, German and Spanish
- More pupils appear to be taking their maths GCSEs at a time that is right for them as early entries in maths reduced by 64.6%, but the number of entries gaining a grade 9 is at 13.3%, compared to 3.5% overall