A-LEVEL RESULTS 2017
BOYS OUTPERFORM GIRLS FOR FIRST TIME IN 17 YEARS BUT STUDENTS SHUN TOUGHER SUBJECTS TO GET TOP GRADES
EXAM boards are to change the way they compare the grades of boys and girls to include a category for students who do not identify with either gender.
In the future, non-binary pupils will have the option of signalling to exam boards that they do not wish to be classed as either male or female.
The move comes as this year boys beat girls to top A-level grades for the first time in 17 years, with the dramatic reversal of fortunes thought to be fuelled by the new “tougher” A-levels.
Sharon Hague, vice-president of Pearson Qualification Services, which owns exam board Edexcel, said: “We know this is something young people feel strongly about. We are working with [the charity] Stonewall to look at how we might reflect that in the way we capture information in future.”
Ms Hague said that exam boards already have a process in place for transgender students who transition after sitting their exams, and want to change the information on their certificate to reflect their new identity.
She said: “Exam boards do have a process for making sure that any young person, once they’ve received their qualification, should they identify themselves in a different way, that their certificates, or the information about their qualifications, can be changed and updated to reflect that.”
Boards compile information about gender so that they can examine trends in results over time.
Girls have outperformed boys every year since 2000, but this year 26.6 per cent of boys achieved A* or A grades, compared to 26.1 per cent of girls.
In the subjects that have a reformed syllabus and course structure, the top grades of girls have drastically declined in percentage points compared to last year. The gender gap across all subjects, which sees boys 0.5 points ahead of girls for A* or A grades, has reversed on last year – when girls were 0.3 points ahead of boys.
Coursework has been scaled back and modules axed for the new A-levels, meaning students sit all of their exams at the end of the two-year course.
Syllabuses have also been redesigned, with changes including more unseen texts in English literature, more mathematical elements in science exams, and a broader range of events studied for history.
A sample of results for 18-year-olds in England, provided by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), shows that in the new raft of reformed subjects, the drop in A or A* grades for girls fell 1.1 percentage points compared to just 0.2 points for boys. The share of top grades was equal for boys and girls in these subjects at 24.3 per cent.