Ofqual
Today, students in England are receiving more than 5.6 million GCSE results. Students grades have been determined by their performance in their exams and assessments.?These qualifications provide students with trustworthy evidence of their achievements so they can move forward in their education or training.?
Grading has continued as normal this summer, following the return to pre-pandemic standards last year. It is important that grades reflect what students know, understand and can do, to support students in making the right choices about their next steps.
The Chief Regulator at Ofqual, Sir Ian Bauckham CBE, said: Consistent, rigorous standards of grading are producing consistent results.??
It is evidence that we have settled back into a pattern of dependable and trustworthy results.
Key points
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Grading has continued as normal this summer and standards have been maintained from summer 2023.??
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GCSE entries have increased by more than 250,000 compared with summer 2023. There has been an increase in the 16-year-old population since 2023, and there are more entries from post-16 students this summer for GCSE English language and maths. The changes to the post-16 cohort are reflected in the GCSE English language and maths results published today.
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Overall GCSE results are similar to 2023. Outcomes at grade 7 and above are 21.7% compared with 21.6% in 2023, and outcomes at grade 4 and above are 67.4% compared with 67.8% in 2023.
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The results for GCSE French, German and computer science reflect the small adjustments we required exam boards to make this summer.
Today (22 August 2024) we are publishing:
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a summary of results (below)
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interactive visualisations of?outcomes by centre type, variability in school and college GCSE results, GCSE outcomes in England, an interactive map of England showing GCSE results in different subjects by grade and county and GCSE grade combinations
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results of the 2024 National Reference Test
As normal, the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) has?published results in England for GCSE, overall and by subject. These results are also shown in our?interactive visualisation.
Centre type results
Ofqual has updated its interactive visualisation to show?GCSE results for different types of school and college compared?with previous years, overall and by subject. The centre type categories are based on the?national centre number (NCN) register?and are self-reported by schools and colleges. Our interactive visualisations only include those schools or colleges that have entries for a particular subject in every year from 2018 to 2024.
Overall results for all types of school and college are broadly similar to 2023 at grade 7 and above and grade 4 and above. When students take exams, the same assessment arrangements apply to everyone. Differences in outcomes are therefore likely to reflect longstanding trends in the pattern of results for different centre types. Changes compared with 2023 will reflect changes in attainment or changes in the cohort of students taking qualifications across different types of centre. For example, more post-16 students took GCSEs this summer compared with 2023, and these students typically make up the majority of GCSE entries in further education establishments and colleges.
Cumulative percentage outcomes by centre type grade 7 and above
| Centre type | 2019 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academies | 20.6 | 21.0 | 21.2 |
| Free schools | 20.1 | 20.1 | 21.6 |
| FE establishment | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.8 |
| Independent | 48.1 | 47.5 | 48.4 |
| Other | 6.4 | 7.6 | 7.2 |
| Secondary comprehensive | 18.8 | 19.3 | 19.4 |
| Secondary modern | 12.4 | 12.8 | 12.6 |
| Secondary selective | 58.6 | 59.4 | 60.3 |
| Sixth form college | 1.0 | 1.4 | 1.2 |
Cumulative percentage outcomes by centre type grade 4 and above
| Centre type | 2019 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academies | 69.1 | 69.2 | 69.4 |
| Free schools | 68.7 | 67.5 | 69.0 |
| FE establishment | 24.0 | 19.2 | 17.3 |
| Independent | 91.0 | 91.0 | 90.9 |
| Other | 36.6 | 37.6 | 35.3 |
| Secondary comprehensive | 67.8 | 68.3 | 68.5 |
| Secondary modern | 60.9 | 61.3 | 60.7 |
| Secondary selective | 97.0 | 96.8 | 97.0 |
| Sixth form college | 30.6 | 24.1 | 24.9 |
Centre variability
Ofquals interactive visualisation shows?the level of variation?in schools and colleges GCSE results compared with 2023. We know that, in any year, individual schools and colleges may see variation in the proportion of students achieving particular grades compared with previous years. This can be due to many different factors, including differences in the mix of students entered for particular qualifications, different teaching approaches, changes in teaching staff or teaching time, and changes to qualifications.??
Our interactive visualisation allows users to explore variation in centres results for different age groups and sizes of centres.
GCSE French, German and computer science
This summer we required exam boards to award GCSE French, German and computer science more generously.
The positive adjustments in French and German follow our detailed review of