Girls outshine boys in record breaking year of GCSE results
Results from this year’s GCSE results, show that the gap between the performance of boys and girls is at the highest rate ever. The number of girls who were awarded with an A or A* grade was 26.5%, whereas for boys, it was 19.6% of exam entries. There is now a 6.7% difference between both genders at this level.
There have been many positive outcomes of this year’s GCSE results. More students are receiving results between the levels A* and C, with 69.8% of entries obtaining this outcome. This level has risen from 22.6% last year, to 23% of entries this year. However, the overall pass rate has actually dropped slightly to 92.7%
This year’s GCSE results have also shown a growing trend in the number of students who are choosing to sit exams in individual science subjects, and a decline in those opting for subjects such as geography, history and modern language. This may be down to the fact that so many jobs these days, require a good understanding of mathematics, which is often part of science subjects.
The number of students who chose physics as a GCSE subject rose by 16.4%, chemistry saw an increase of 16.2% and biology was up by 14.2%. Worryingly, the number of students opting to take languages is also falling, with both French and German dropping by a significant 13.2%.
School Minister Nick Gibb, spoke of his concern over the gap between girls and boys, and the number of students who are turning their backs on language subjects. Christine Blower, who is the general secretary for the National Union of Teachers, also voiced her concern over the decline of those choosing modern language. Although, both did congratulate the students on the hard work in getting these great results.
View the original BBC News article.