College students being awarded high grades of their GCSE exams has dropped from final 12 months, however stays increased than 2019, as grading returns to close pre-pandemic ranges.

Figures present that 22 per cent of pupils had been awarded the highest grades of seven/A or above, down from 26.3 per cent in 2022 however up from 20.8 per cent in 2019.

It comes amid rising considerations over a north-south divide, with a breakdown of the outcomes exposing an enormous regional distinction.

This types a part of a plan to carry grades right down to pre-pandemic ranges in England this 12 months, with the examination regulator beforehand warning colleges and headteachers to count on a drop in high GCSE grades.

It comes after Covid-19 led to a rise in grades in 2020 and 2021, with the outcomes primarily based on instructor assessments as an alternative of exams.

GCSE pupils within the UK final 12 months had a move fee of 73.2 per cent, in contrast with 67.3 per cent in 2019.

With efforts made to revive grading to comparable ranges to 2019, the variety of pupils in England attaining at the least a grade 4 in English and maths GCSE has fallen, which might affect whether or not they go on to sixth kind, faculty or coaching.

In England, many pupils who fail English or maths GCSE should resit them till they can depart college.

Conventional A*-G grades are utilized in Wales and Northern Eire whereas England’s outcomes have been changed with a 9-1 system, with 9 being the best. A grade of 4 is taken into account the equal to a C or a normal move and a 7 is equal to an A.

In keeping with figures from Ofqual, the variety of 16-year-old college students in England who obtained a 9 – the best grade below the numerical grading system – in all their topics has almost halved from final 12 months.

Some 1,150 16-year-olds in England taking at the least seven GCSEs achieved a grade 9 in all their topics, in contrast with 2,193 final 12 months and 837 in 2019.

Key topics resembling maths and English have seen a drop in highest grades, with 17.5 per cent attaining a 7/A or above in maths in comparison with 20.1 per cent in 2022.

In English, top-performing college students noticed a drop from 20.4 per cent right down to 16.3 per cent in comparison with final 12 months.

Final week, the proportion of A-level entries attaining high grades fell – with some 73,000 fewer high A-level grades than final 12 months – but it surely additionally remained above pre-pandemic ranges.

Women continued their lead over boys for the highest GCSE grades, with 24.9 per cent of entries awarded 7/A or above in contrast with 19.1 per cent for males – a niche of 5.8 proportion factors.

However the hole has narrowed from final 12 months when ladies had been forward of boys by 7.4 proportion factors (30.0 per cent ladies, 22.6 per cent boys) and from 2019 when ladies led by 6.5 proportion factors.

It’s the narrowest lead loved by ladies at 7/A since 2009.

Final 12 months’s GCSE leads to England noticed the widest hole in outcomes for a decade between deprived pupils and their better-off friends, with unions and headteachers noting an increase in nervousness within the aftermath of Covid-19 and the price of residing disaster.

Geoff Barton, normal secretary of the Affiliation of College and Faculty Leaders (ASCL), mentioned of these receiving their 2023 outcomes: “An infinite quantity of exhausting work has gone into these {qualifications} in usually troublesome circumstances and the younger individuals receiving their outcomes as we speak deserve nice credit score for what they’ve achieved.”

He added: “We might warning towards direct comparisons between this 12 months’s grades and people in 2019 due to the disproportionate affect of the pandemic and subsequent cost-of-living disaster on younger individuals from deprived backgrounds.

“It’s seemingly that the outcomes for a lot of of those younger individuals shall be affected by these elements and this will likely additionally affect on the outcomes of colleges which serve deprived communities.

“The federal government has failed to understand the gravity of this problem. It didn’t make investments sufficiently in training restoration from the pandemic – inflicting its personal restoration commissioner to resign in protest – and it has failed to deal with the excessive stage of kid poverty within the UK. We’re involved that this may result in a widening of the attainment hole between wealthy and poor.”

Faculties minister Nick Gibb mentioned variations in GCSE grading throughout the UK mustn’t drawback pupils.

Requested if some pupils had been being deprived by an absence of continuity throughout all 4 nations of the UK relating to grading, he informed GB Information: “No they received’t be as a result of the sixth kind or wherever they’ll go subsequent within the subsequent part of their training, they take that into consideration, they know there’s a distinction method to grading. And we noticed that final week with A Ranges, that universities are conscious of the totally different approaches to those {qualifications} in numerous elements of the UK. And the identical applies to GCSEs. Most younger individuals will transition to an establishment native to them.”

Invoice Watkin, chief govt of the Sixth Type Faculties Affiliation (SFCA), mentioned it was “attainable” that some sixth types and faculties will decrease the GCSE grades required for entry in contrast with final 12 months.

He mentioned: “I believe entry-level necessities in comparison with the final two years is perhaps flexed to accommodate individuals who have gotten decrease grades than they might have gotten within the final two years.

“However what nobody needs to do is to lift false hopes by saying ‘Oh, you’ve bought 3s and 4s in your GCSEs. I’m positive final 12 months they might have been 4s and 5s so let’s put you on an A-level course’. As a result of the underside line is for those who do that you just threat a youngster being overstretched and really sad.”

Training secretary Gillian Keegan mentioned: “This cohort have proven super resilience lately and needs to be happy with all of the work they’ve accomplished to succeed in this milestone.

“Grading is returning to regular which suggests a pupil who would have achieved a grade 4 earlier than the pandemic is simply as more likely to obtain that this 12 months.”

She added: “College students now have extra choices to select from than ever earlier than – resembling our high-quality T-levels, together with authorized and agriculture ranging from this September.

“They will additionally take A-levels or earn and study on a variety of apprenticeships, from journalism to accountancy.

“Whichever path college students resolve to take, they will trust it’s going to set them up for a profitable profession. I want everybody the perfect as they transfer on to their subsequent chapter.”