Top A-level grades rise but more pupils shun university
THE number of students achieving top A-level grades is up for the first time since 2011 although fewer are choosing to go to university, official figures revealed yesterday.
And for the first time in many years, boys outperformed girls in the top grades, according to the Joint Council for Qualifications.
But education experts said there was a “buyer’s market” for university places, with thousands unfilled as applications fell by four per cent.
As teenagers received their results across the country, the overall pass rate dipped slightly by 0.2 per cent.
But more than one in four (26.3 per cent) of A level entries scored an A* or A this summer, up 0.5 percentage points on 2016.
Figures showed that 8.8 per cent of boys’ entries were awarded A* compared with 7.8 per cent of girls’.
Benefit
Overall, for both A* and A grades, boys were ahead for the first time, with 26.6 per cent of entries compared with 26.1 per cent for girls.
Girls were ahead by 0.3 percentage points in 2016.
Experts had predicted the recent return to end-of-course exams rather than coursework and continuous assessment would benefit boys.
Professor Alan Smithers, of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said earlier reforms in 2000 had “led to a big gap opening in favour of girls” who tend to work hard throughout courses.
But while top grades rose, university applications fell by four per cent and calls to clearing placement service UCAS were also down.
UCAS said 416,000 places had been confirmed – down two per cent on last year. The burden of student debt played a part in one talented school-leaver’s decision to pick an apprenticeship over university.
Joy Shepheard-Walwyn opted for a two-year management consultancy scheme with accountants PwC.
Joy, who attends Birmingham’s King Edward VI High School for Girls, got an A* in maths and English literature, A in Russian, C in further maths and A in AS level French. She said: “With the universities I’d had offers from it would have been £30,000 in just university fees and that’s without a maintenance loan.”
Instead, the 17-year-old from Stourbridge, West Mids, will move to Leeds next month to start her training – which comes with a salary.
Welcoming yesterday’s results, Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: “We want everyone, regardless of background, to be able to fulfil their potential and, for many, A-levels are the pathway to a university degree.”
He said strong uptake in core subjects would give more students greater choice of university courses, adding that maths and further maths had nearly 25 per cent more entries than in 2010.