Latest news with #Alevel
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
A-level and GCSE results are being released. Here's what to expect
Hundreds of thousands of pupils across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are poised to discover their A-level and GCSE results over the coming weeks. The key dates for this summer's examination season have been confirmed. A-level and AS-level results will be released on 14 August. On the same day, pupils in England who have undertaken T-levels – qualifications designed to provide high-quality technical alternatives to A-levels – will also receive their outcomes. Thousands of pupils will also be receiving results for various vocational technical qualifications (VTQs) throughout the month. Results for Level 3 VTQs, such as BTecs, which are often taken alongside or instead of A-levels, are scheduled for release on or before 14 August. Many Level 2 VTQs are expected to have their results published on or before 21 August. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said that she expects a 'pretty straightforward year' for students as things have 'returned to normal' since the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2024, 27.8 per cent of UK A-level entries were awarded an A or A* grade, up from 27.2 per cent in 2023. It was the highest proportion of entries scoring top grades outside the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22. In 2019 – the last year that summer exams were taken before the pandemic – 25.4 per cent of entries were awarded A or A* grades. The pandemic led to an increase in top A-level and GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams. How does the situation differ in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland? In 2023, GCSEs and A-levels returned to pre-pandemic grading arrangements in England. In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators returned to pre-pandemic grading last summer. Scotland has a different qualification system and students received their results on Tuesday last week. Figures released by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) showed that 78.4 per cent of those sitting National 5 exams passed with grades A to C – up from 77.2 per cent in 2024. For Highers, 75.9 per cent passed with the top bands, up from 74.9 per cent in 2024, and for Advanced Highers 76.7 per cent of students achieved A to C grades, up from 75.3 per cent in 2024. Will it be tougher to get university places? A record number of 18-year-olds are likely to be successful in securing their first choice of university this A-level results day even if they narrowly miss their grades, the head of Ucas has suggested. Jo Saxton, chief executive of the university admissions service, it was a 'good year to be a UK-domiciled 18-year-old' that wants to go to university. She has suggested that British universities are keen to recruit UK school and college leavers because there is more 'uncertainty' around the international market and which overseas students are going to turn up. Dr Saxton added that domestic undergraduates offered universities 'stability' for their 'financial planning'. Nearly 22,700 courses with vacancies for undergraduate students living in England were available on the Ucas clearing site as of Wednesday last week – eight days before results day, an analysis showed. A sample of 129 of the UK's largest higher education providers showed 17 of the 24 elite Russell Group universities had more than 3,600 courses with vacancies for English residents on clearing. What can students do if they do not get their first-choice university? Clearing is available to students who do not meet the conditions of their offer on A-level results day, as well as those who did not receive any offers. Students who have changed their mind about what or where they wish to study, and also those who have applied outside the normal application window, can also use the clearing process through Ucas. Applicants will be able to add a clearing choice from 1pm on results day. In England, if a student is unhappy with their grade they can ask their school or college to request that the exam board review the marking. If there are still concerns, the student can ask their school or college to appeal against the result. Were pupils given extra support in exams due to Covid-19? Exam aids have been given to GCSE pupils in England in mathematics, physics and combined science since 2022 to limit the impact of Covid-19 on learning. In October 2024, the Education Secretary asked England's exams regulator Ofqual to continue providing formulae and equation sheets to GCSE pupils in these subjects in 2025, 2026 and 2027. Most pupils who took their GCSE exams this summer were in Year 6 when schools closed after the national lockdown in 2020.
The Independent
12 hours ago
- General
- The Independent
A-level and GCSE results are being released. Here's what to expect
Hundreds of thousands of pupils across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are poised to discover their A-level and GCSE results over the coming weeks. The key dates for this summer's examination season have been confirmed. A-level and AS-level results will be released on 14 August. On the same day, pupils in England who have undertaken T-levels – qualifications designed to provide high-quality technical alternatives to A-levels – will also receive their outcomes. Thousands of pupils will also be receiving results for various vocational technical qualifications (VTQs) throughout the month. Results for Level 3 VTQs, such as BTecs, which are often taken alongside or instead of A-levels, are scheduled for release on or before 14 August. Many Level 2 VTQs are expected to have their results published on or before 21 August. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said that she expects a 'pretty straightforward year' for students as things have 'returned to normal' since the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2024, 27.8 per cent of UK A-level entries were awarded an A or A* grade, up from 27.2 per cent in 2023. It was the highest proportion of entries scoring top grades outside the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22. In 2019 – the last year that summer exams were taken before the pandemic – 25.4 per cent of entries were awarded A or A* grades. The pandemic led to an increase in top A-level and GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams. How does the situation differ in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland? In 2023, GCSEs and A-levels returned to pre-pandemic grading arrangements in England. In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators returned to pre-pandemic grading last summer. Scotland has a different qualification system and students received their results on Tuesday last week. Figures released by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) showed that 78.4 per cent of those sitting National 5 exams passed with grades A to C – up from 77.2 per cent in 2024. For Highers, 75.9 per cent passed with the top bands, up from 74.9 per cent in 2024, and for Advanced Highers 76.7 per cent of students achieved A to C grades, up from 75.3 per cent in 2024. Will it be tougher to get university places? A record number of 18-year-olds are likely to be successful in securing their first choice of university this A-level results day even if they narrowly miss their grades, the head of Ucas has suggested. Jo Saxton, chief executive of the university admissions service, it was a 'good year to be a UK-domiciled 18-year-old' that wants to go to university. She has suggested that British universities are keen to recruit UK school and college leavers because there is more 'uncertainty' around the international market and which overseas students are going to turn up. Dr Saxton added that domestic undergraduates offered universities 'stability' for their 'financial planning'. Nearly 22,700 courses with vacancies for undergraduate students living in England were available on the Ucas clearing site as of Wednesday last week – eight days before results day, an analysis showed. A sample of 129 of the UK's largest higher education providers showed 17 of the 24 elite Russell Group universities had more than 3,600 courses with vacancies for English residents on clearing. What can students do if they do not get their first-choice university? Clearing is available to students who do not meet the conditions of their offer on A-level results day, as well as those who did not receive any offers. Students who have changed their mind about what or where they wish to study, and also those who have applied outside the normal application window, can also use the clearing process through Ucas. Applicants will be able to add a clearing choice from 1pm on results day. In England, if a student is unhappy with their grade they can ask their school or college to request that the exam board review the marking. If there are still concerns, the student can ask their school or college to appeal against the result. Exam aids have been given to GCSE pupils in England in mathematics, physics and combined science since 2022 to limit the impact of Covid-19 on learning. In October 2024, the Education Secretary asked England's exams regulator Ofqual to continue providing formulae and equation sheets to GCSE pupils in these subjects in 2025, 2026 and 2027. Most pupils who took their GCSE exams this summer were in Year 6 when schools closed after the national lockdown in 2020.
Telegraph
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
It's time Britain realised that going to university is a scam
This week, hundreds of thousands of teenagers and their parents will experience a very anxious time as they receive their A-level results on Thursday. For many of the kids involved, the significance of the results will be largely to do with gaining entry to university. For most of them, this is a worthwhile objective. For some, university will completely transform their lives. But not all. The evidence is accumulating that we send far too many young people to university. It was at the Labour Party conference in 1999 that Tony Blair, the then prime minister, announced that he was setting 'a target of 50pc of young adults going into higher education in the next century '. This aim has been achieved. But why the number should be 50pc and not 40pc or 60pc has never been clear. A key motivation behind this objective was economic. The evidence was plain that, on average, graduates earned more than non-graduates. Therefore, so the argument ran, if we turned out more graduates, we would increase average incomes. The national counterpart to this would be higher GDP. Can you believe it? This logic was flawed right from the beginning. Just because graduates on average earn more than non-graduates, this does not mean that if you turn the marginal non-graduate into a graduate, their earnings will rise. Rather unsurprisingly, it all depends upon what spending three years at an institution of higher education actually does to them. Do they acquire any skills that are valuable? Do they acquire habits of mind and aspects of character that will stand them in good stead in later life? In many cases they do. But again, not all. I have long thought that in some cases, university actually degrades young people. It gives them too much freedom at a time when they don't know what to do with it, blunts the work ethic and gets them into bad habits. If we sent fewer of our young people to university, there would be other savings. There is a huge number of people employed in universities, including teaching staff, who could be released to do other jobs in the economy. Similarly, there are large numbers of buildings which could be repurposed. A key part of the motivation behind young people wanting to go to university – and their parents wanting them to – is economic. That is to say, they wanted to enjoy the so-called graduate premium which has supposedly averaged about £10,500. But countless young people have discovered that there is no such premium for them as they find themselves doing jobs for which a degree is not a requirement and which they could have secured without having one. But by no means is the motivation all economic. Some of it is social. If your mates are all going to university, you will naturally feel a bit odd about not going yourself. But this is a problem that would be alleviated simply by fewer people going to university. There would then be more of your mates who are not going to university. There is also the matter of status for both teenagers and their parents. Mind you, why they think it is so desirable to do a BA in marketing as opposed to becoming a plumber or electrician is quite beyond me. Never mind the graduate premium; why don't we talk about the plumber premium? Moreover, until recently, there has been a move in society to make a degree a requirement for employment in occupations which used to not require them. This is true of the police force and nursing. It really is extraordinary that we should potentially lose excellent recruits into these professions, or waste resources putting them through university. It is bizarre that so many people seem to associate learning in all its guises with the necessity to spend three years, full-time, in an educational establishment from the ages of 18-21. If the purpose of attending university is to acquire skills, then in many cases, these can be acquired much better from short courses interspersed with working, or on the job in the form of an apprenticeship. Whether the role is formally called an apprenticeship or not doesn't really matter. The key point is to learn on the job and to learn from others who are accomplished at it, rather than sitting in a classroom being talked at. This message is slowly beginning to sink in. Some professional accountancy and law firms are now offering non-graduate entrance, and they are referring to such places as 'apprenticeships'. If the purpose of going to university is not to acquire skills but rather to enjoy learning for its own sake and to benefit from the broadening of the mind and of one's interests, then surely this can usefully be done later in life, and not necessarily by attending a university full time. There are not many available policy changes which could bring significant benefits to the economy. But reducing the number of young people going to university is one of them. Quite apart from the waste of so many people's time and money, the accumulation of debts and the necessary write-off by the state of a great deal of debt which can never be repaid, reducing the numbers going to university would release a huge number of people for employment in the workforce. There are currently about 2.4m full-time students in higher education. A 20pc reduction in university numbers would add almost half a million people to the labour force. Of course, going to university can be wonderful. And we have some of the best universities in the world. But not all of them are up to scratch, and not all courses add value for their students. It is high time that our leaders reflected on the fantastic waste of money and resources that following Tony Blair's dream has brought us. For many young people, their life prospects would be brighter if they didn't go to university.
The Guardian
15 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
A-level results in England expected to return to near pre-pandemic levels
Students in England are expected to receive A-level grades that are closer to normal for the first time since the Covid pandemic triggered school closures and exam cancellations. The grades will more closely resemble those given out in 2019, before the pandemic, with the proportion of A* to E grades linked to national results from the GCSE exams taken by the same pupils two years ago. While most of the students who sat A-levels this spring were affected by pandemic disruption during their early years at secondary school, they will be the first group to have gone through their exam years without major turbulence. It comes as the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, pledged to make a priority of tackling British white working-class young people falling behind their peers in the year ahead. The government will set out its plans for the challenge in a schools white paper in the autumn, she added. Prof Alan Smithers, of Buckingham University's centre for education and employment research, said that 2024's A-level grades were unexpectedly high in England, which could have echoes in this year's outcomes. 'A-level grades have a chance to settle down this year after the volatility of Covid and its aftermath. They are likely to be close to last year's, where top grades were a percentage point or two above pre-Covid levels. This may not sound very much but, in fact, was an extra 14,200 A*s and 21,300 A*-As,' Smithers said. 'But there is huge variation in grades between subjects, a changing pattern in entries, and movement in the subject distribution of the sexes, which could also influence the outcome.' The proportion of top A* and As awarded soared after grades were set by school assessment in 2020 and 2021, and remained at higher levels when exams returned in 2022. But last year 9.3% of A-level entries in England gained A* grades, above pre-pandemic levels, leaving experts struggling to explain why. Analysts at FFT Datalab research unit said there were fewer students taking A-levels this year after record numbers in 2024, as entry patterns stabilised after the bumper post-pandemic crop of students who received better GCSE grades, enabling more of them to enrol on A-level courses. This year, career-related subjects such as business studies and economics will overtake traditional academic subjects such as history, while the sciences and maths continue to rise in popularity despite the fall in the numbers taking A-levels overall. Just 40,900 students entered to take history, compared with 41,900 taking economics and 43,000 for physics. Maths remains the most popular A-level with 105,000 entries this year, up by more than 4% compared with 2024. English literature entries fell by 5% to below 35,000, while the numbers taking French and German continued to decline. About 250,000 sixth-formers in England will receive their A-level results on Thursday, with others choosing to take BTecs or other standalone or vocational qualifications such as T-levels. Students in Wales and Northern Ireland will receive their A-level results on the same day but their grades are administered separately from those in England. Scotland published the results for its Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications last week, showing a record number receiving grades A to C in Highers. School leavers in England hoping to go to university have received higher numbers of offers as institutions have aggressively sought to fill places after a downturn in international applications. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Universities usually offer places on undergraduate courses that are conditional on reaching certain A-level grades. But Mike Nicholson, director of recruitment, admissions and participation at the University of Cambridge, said many universities would probably be 'looking very carefully' at accepting applicants who narrowly failed to achieve the required grades. Nicholson said: 'If the student, for instance, needed three As [and] gets AAB, as long as the B is not in something that's absolutely crucial for the course, I think there's a very strong possibility the student would find they'd be getting a place. 'If universities have the capacity to take near-miss students I think they'll be very keen to take them this year because those students are already in the system, they've already committed, they've possibly already even applied for accommodation. Phillipson said it was a 'national disgrace' that so many young people were 'written off' and did not get what they needed in the education system to achieve and thrive after leaving school. She added her focus would be turning around the 'stark' attainment gap and outcomes between white working-class children and their peers. Fewer than a fifth (18.6%) of white British pupils eligible for free school meals achieved at least a grade 5 – which is considered a 'strong pass' – in their English and maths GCSEs in 2023-24, compared with 45.9% of all state school pupils in England, according to Department for Education (DfE) data. Phillipson said: 'They're not well-positioned to carry on with studies, to get an apprenticeship, to go on to university. That is why the schools white paper we will be publishing in the autumn will set out an ambitious vision for how we can tackle this generational challenge of what many young people experience. '(It) is a national disgrace that so many young people are written off and don't get what they need to achieve and thrive.'
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
What can students expect from this summer's exam results?
Hundreds of thousands of pupils across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are due to find out their A-level and GCSE results over the next few weeks. Here is your guide to this summer's exam results: – When are exam results this year? A-level and AS results are out on August 14, while GCSE results will be released on August 21. Pupils in England will receive results for T-levels – which were launched to provide high-quality technical alternatives to A-levels – on August 14. Thousands of pupils will also receive results for vocational technical qualifications (VTQs) this month. Results for VTQs at Level 3 taken alongside or instead of A-levels, such as BTecs, will be released to students on or before August 14. Results for many Level 2 VTQs are expected on or before August 21. – What can students expect? Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the PA news agency that she expects a 'pretty straightforward year' for students as things have 'returned to normal' since the pandemic. Last year, 27.8% of UK A-level entries were awarded an A or A* grade, up from 27.2% in 2023. It was the highest proportion of entries scoring top grades outside the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22. In 2019 – the last year that summer exams were taken before the pandemic – 25.4% of entries were awarded A or A* grades. The Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in top A-level and GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams. – How does the situation differ in the devolved nations? In 2023, GCSEs and A-levels returned to pre-pandemic grading arrangements in England. In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators returned to pre-pandemic grading last summer – a year later than in England. Scotland has a different qualification system and students received their results on Tuesday last week. Figures released by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) showed that 78.4% of those sitting National 5 exams passed with grades A to C – up from 77.2% last year. For Highers, 75.9% passed with the top bands, up from 74.9% last year, and for Advanced Highers 76.7% of students achieved A to C grades, up from 75.3% last year. – Will it be tougher to get university places? A record number of 18-year-olds are likely to be successful in securing their first choice of university this A-level results day even if they narrowly miss their grades, the head of Ucas has suggested. Jo Saxton, chief executive of the university admissions service, told PA it was a 'good year to be a UK-domiciled 18-year-old' that wants to go to university. She has suggested that British universities are keen to recruit UK school and college leavers because there is more 'uncertainty' around the international market and which overseas students are going to turn up. Dr Saxton added that domestic undergraduates offered universities 'stability' for their 'financial planning'. Nearly 22,700 courses with vacancies for undergraduate students living in England were available on the Ucas clearing site as of Wednesday last week – eight days before results day, a PA analysis showed. A sample of 129 of the UK's largest higher education providers showed 17 of the 24 elite Russell Group universities had more than 3,600 courses with vacancies for English residents on clearing. – What can students do if they do not get their first-choice university? Clearing is available to students who do not meet the conditions of their offer on A-level results day, as well as those who did not receive any offers. Students who have changed their mind about what or where they wish to study, and also those who have applied outside the normal application window, can also use the clearing process through Ucas. Applicants will be able to add a clearing choice from 1pm on results day. In England, if a student is unhappy with their grade they can ask their school or college to request that the exam board review the marking. If there are still concerns, the student can ask their school or college to appeal against the result. – Were pupils given extra support in exams due to Covid-19? Exam aids have been given to GCSE pupils in England in mathematics, physics and combined science since 2022 to limit the impact of Covid-19 on learning. In October last year, the Education Secretary asked England's exams regulator Ofqual to continue providing formulae and equation sheets to GCSE pupils in these subjects in 2025, 2026 and 2027. Most pupils who took their GCSE exams this summer were in Year 6 when schools closed after the national lockdown in 2020.
