Record A-level results in Wales

WALES has posted record A-level results with more than nine in 10 students passing and the best ever top A* to A grades recorded.

The percentage of entries graded at A or A* was 48.3%.

This is up significantly from 41.8% in 2020, when exams were first cancelled and almost twice as high as the 27.0% given top grades in 2019, the last year that traditional exams ran.

It means that the percentage of top entries given top grades has risen by 80% in two years – almost twice as many as were given a coveted A or A* before the coronavirus pandemic threw schools and assessments into disarray.

Exam Regulator Qualifications Wales said results are not comparable to previous years because of the different circumstances with teacher assessed grades rather than sat exams – but insisted they are of the same value.

Qualifications Wales and exam board the WJEC have said the results will look different this year because of the exceptional circumstances with traditional exams cancelled once again and teacher’ assessed grades in a year disrupted by Covid.

Pupils missed varying amounts of face to face learning during lockdowns and self isolation.

Education Minister Jeremy Miles and school leaders have assured students their grades are equal value to previous years,

The results are confirmed grades. Learners in Wales were told their expected results in June by their teachers who assessed them after exams were cancelled for a second year by the pandemic.

Similar patterns in outcomes at grade A and above are seen in England (44.3% in 2021 compared with 38.1% in 2020, and 25.2% in 2019) and Northern Ireland* (50.8% in 2021 compared with 43.3% in 2020, and 30.9% in 2019), Qualifications Wales said.

30.0% achieved grade A* or A in the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate (a major part of the Welsh Baccalaureate).

The total number of A level examination entries in Wales this year was 35,867, an increase of 14.5% relative to 2020, reversing the decreasing A-level entries since the summer of 2015.

The overall pass rate for girls and boys is broadly similar with 98.8% of subject entries by boys achieving A* – E grades, compared to 99.3% of entries by girls.

But girls now outperform males at grades A by 6.2 percentage points and B by 7 percentage points.

The difference at A* is 0.9 percentage points.

Many vocational learners will also be receiving their Level 3 BTec results today and some will have been determined in a similar way to A-levels, the regulator said.

“This has been an academic year unlike any other,” said Qualifications Wales chief executive philip blaker.

“Following the Welsh Government’s decision to cancel exams in November last year and the subsequent move in January this year to an approach where schools and colleges determine the results for their learners, our priority has been to find the fairest possible approach in these extraordinary circumstances.

“The priority being for learners to make their next steps to higher education, further education, apprenticeships or employment and protect their wellbeing.

“The process has relied on the professional judgement of teachers and lecturers to determine the grades that are appropriate for their learners, placing schools and colleges at the heart of the approach.

“We would like to thank them for their dedication and hard work in adapting swiftly to the flexible arrangements putin place to enable grades to be awarded.

“Given that a centralised approach, such as exams, was not possible in the circumstances, they have been in the best position to make the right decisions for their learners as they understand the local challenges faced.

“In the circumstances a one size fits all approach would have presented greater risks to fairness.

“While the overall pattern of results looks different, learners can be confident that the qualifications awarded in Wales this year carry the same value as qualifications awarded in any other year.” Education Minister Jeremy Miles said the confirmed exam grades will be the same value as normal years.

This year, with exams cancelled by the pandemic again, results were awarded on teacher assessed grades.

In a message to students on Twitter the minister stated they have the same value.

“Over the last 18 months you have faced extraordinary challenges and dealt with that with dedication and resilience in continuing your learning,” he wrote.

“Although experience of learning and the method of assessment may have been different to previous years the value of the qualifications you receive are the same.

“You can be confident the grades you get reflect your work and you deserve the qualifications you are given.”

Pupils can appeal grades but appeals this year are understood to be low.

The intention is to hold exams in 2022 but with reduced content which has already been published by the WJEC.