GCSE results: Students find out grades as thousands more hit by Btec delays

It comes as efforts to curb grade inflation kick in

Results day: Everything to know for A-Levels and GCSEs

Students have picked up GCSE results while thousands more were hit with delays to Btecs grades.

The pass rate and proportion of top grades dropped in GCSEs this year as efforts to crack down grade inflation kicked in.

But as hundreds of thousands found out their results on Thursday, an exam board said around 5,700 students had been deemed ineligible to get grades in another qualification.

”We need to work with schools and college to resolve queries, run eligibility checks and confirm if the student still wishes to claim a grade,” a spokesperson for Pearson said. “We apologise to any student waiting for a result.”

It came a week after other pupils faced delays in getting results from the same awarding body.

In other exam news, London came out on top in England for GCSE results. Around 32 per cent of grades in the capital were the highest marks, compared to 22 per cent in other regions - including Yorkshire and the North East.

Key Points

• More delays for BTec students
• GCSE grades fall from Covid record high in crackdown on grade inflation
• Students celebrate as they open GCSEs
• Lower GCSE grades ‘part of the plan’, says schools minister
• ‘Evidence of gaping regional disparities in GCSE results’

[25 August 2022 08:13 · Zoe Tidman]

Students start to find out results

Students have now started opening their results at school.

Some in northwest London even opened their grades live on the news:

[25 August 2022 08:48 · Adam Forrest]

Lower GCSE grades ‘part of the plan’, says schools minister

Overall grades for GCSEs are expected to be lower than in 2020 and 2021, but “that’s very much part of the plan”, education minister Will Quince has said.

Asked whether their grades are going to be lower, the schools minister told Sky News: “So, yeah, they are and that’s very much part of the plan. Over the last couple of years, we have had teachers assess grades, we have gone back for the first time to examinations.”

Mr Quince added: “We recognise the fact that young people have faced huge disruption of the past couple of years, so there have been adaptations in place and Ofqual have reflected in their marking and grading.”

[25 August 2022 09:05 · Zoe Tidman]

Students open GCSEs

While waiting to find out what the national picture looks like, here are some images of students finding out what they got in their GCSEs this morning:

Students at the Roedean School in Brighton opened their GCSE results this morning (PA)

Hundreds of thousands are picking up their GCSE results (PA)

[25 August 2022 09:18 · Zoe Tidman]

Regional disparities likely because government ‘failed’ children, Labour says

The country is likely to see regional disparities in GCSE results because the government has “failed” children, Labour has said.

Shadow education minister Stephen Morgan told Sky News the education recovery plan “hasn’t actually made a real difference across the country”,

He added: “Most ministers don’t seem to be able to describe what levelling up means. And what we are seeing is a failure of government investment across the country.”

[25 August 2022 09:32 · Zoe Tidman]

BREAKING: GCSE grades fall from Covid record high in crackdown on grade inflation

[25 August 2022 09:54 · Zoe Tidman]

Some students looked pretty happy as they opened their results this morning:

Hundreds of thousands of students opened GCSE results this morning (PA)

Maddie Hallam opened her results next to her mother at Norwich School this morning (PA)

Finney Harrod is one of hundreds of thousands of students to receive GCSE results (PA)

[25 August 2022 09:55 · Zoe Tidman]

GCSE students ‘deserve great credit’ for achieving grades ‘in most difficult circumstances imaginable'

Geoff Barton from the Association of School and College Leaders has congratulated pupils collecting their results for GCSEs and vocational and technical qualifications today.

“They deserve great credit for all they have achieved in the most difficult circumstances imaginable – a global pandemic which has caused wave after wave of disruption to the education system over the past two years,” he said.

The union leader noted GCSE grades were “generally lower” than last year - when exams were cancelled and teachers issued grades instead - but higher than before the pandemic.

He said this “has nothing to do with the performance of pupils” but rather a decision by the government and an exam regulator to have a staggered crackdown on grade inflation.

[25 August 2022 10:06 · Zoe Tidman]

Regional differences: London comes out top in England’s GCSE results

Here is a breakdown by England region for GCSE results getting the top grades.

London comes out top, with the North East and Yorkshire seeing the lowest rates:

North East: 22.4 per cent

North West: 23.1 per cent

Yorkshire and the Humber: 22.4 per cent

West Midlands: 22.8 per cent

East Midlands: 22.5 per cent

Eastern Engladn: 26.2 per cent

South West England: 25.3 per cent

South East England: 29.2 per cent

London: 32.6 per cent

Overall for England: 26 per cent

[25 August 2022 10:11 · Zoe Tidman]

‘Evidence of gaping regional disparities in GCSE results’

On that note, Henri Murison from the Northern Powerhouse Partnerhsip said there was “evidence of gaping regional disparities in today’s GCSE results” - particularly between the North and London.

“Sadly, this is not all that surprising when we consider the triple whammy of factors that will have had an impact on this attainment gap,” he said.

Mr Murison said this included “existing long-term disadvantage”, learning losses during the Covid pandemic and government “failures” in its catch up plans.

[25 August 2022 10:16 · Zoe Tidman]

Elsewhere in the UK...

Just over 25 per cent of GCSE entries in Wales got the top grades, compared to 37 per cent in Northern Ireland - which was the highest for any area.