Best top-grade A-levels inWales for eight years
PUPILS in Wales have recorded some of the nation’s strongest ever A-level results. A record-breaking 8.3% of all results were graded A*, while the proportion of A* and A grades was the best performance since 2009 (25%).
And according to the figures, boys out-performed girls for the first time in the top grades.
But the number of entries, 33,294, was the lowest for more than a decade.
Wales’ Education Secretary Kirsty Williams said: “This set of results shows an encouraging increase in the number achieving the top grades, with improvement in results across maths, biology, chemistry and physics.
“We have also seen the results go up across a range of subjects and I want us to continue to build on this.
“I am committed to making sure our education system provides pupils with the skills and knowledge they need for the modern world.”
New Wales-devised and set A-level courses were launched this school year which means some grades are no longer directly comparable to their counterparts in England.
But Qualifications Wales insisted that standards had been maintained and students had not been disadvantaged by the new courses.
WALES has recorded some of its best-ever A-level results and boys have outperformed girls for the first time in top grades.
In the first year that students took a course and qualification devised and sat only in Wales, some 8.3% achieved A* – more than ever before.
The proportion of exams that were graded A* or A was 25% – 2.7% higher than last year.
Boys in Wales outperformed girls at both grades A and A* but at other grades girls continued to outperform boys, with 98.2% of entries by girls this year gaining A*-E grades, compared to 97% of entries by boys.
The WJEC warned that some of the difference was down to the fact that boys and girls were likely to study different subjects, meaning the grades weren’t exactly comparable.
It is the first year that students in Wales have taken reformed A-level courses devised and sat only in Wales, meaning they are less comparable to the equivalent exams in England than ever before.
Qualifications Wales, the exams regulator, said that the methods used to set grade boundaries ensured that students were treated fairly and that standards were being maintained.
The number of entries, 33,294, was the lowest for more than a decade.
On a visit to John Frost School, in Newport, Wales’ Education Secretary, Kirsty Williams, said: “I want to congratulate everyone receiving their results and thank pupils, teachers and staff for all their hard work.
“This set of results shows an encouraging increase in the number achieving the top grades, with improvement in results across maths, biology, chemistry and physics.
“We have also seen the results go up across a range of subjects and I want us to continue to build on this. I am committed to making sure our education system provides pupils with the skills and knowledge they need for the modern world.”
Darren Millar AM, Welsh Conservative Shadow Education Secretary, highlighted the fall in applications for certain courses.
Praising students and teachers, he said: “The decline by nearly a fifth in the take-up of computer and science subjects is a real worry given our economy’s skills shortage in these areas. There is still a job of work to do if our students are to compete against the UK’s very best in the labour market and higher education.
“International league tables still rank Wales as the worst schools system in the UK, while teaching standards and a growing recruitment crisis remain a cause for concern.”
The new A-level exams are in art and design, biology, business, chemistry, computer science, economics, English language, history, psychology, physics, sociology and Welsh language.
In maths, Wales again outperformed England at A* and A* to C, with 19.4% gaining A*, and 80.4% gaining A* to C.
There have been increases at A* in mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics.
At A* to C, the results have improved in mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics and geography.
AS results also improved, although again, numbers taking the qualification fell.
There were 46,127 subject entries for AS in Wales this year, a decrease of just over 6% compared with 49,144 last year.
This second consecutive annual reduction is larger than can be explained by a reduction in the size of the 17-year-old age-group population, said the WJEC. Just over 19% of AS candidate subject entries achieved grade A, an improvement of just over 1% on last year.
The equivalent figures for boys were 19.0% at A grade and 86.0% at A-E grades.
As with A-levels, the gap was widest at the grade C, with girls outperforming boys by nearly 8%.
In terms of subject choices, there was a growth in entries for business, maths and political science at A-level, while entries for facilitating subjects, including biology, English literature, geography and history fell this year.
At AS-level there was a rise in entries for art and design, business and media/film studies and a “substantial reduction in entries” for chemistry, English literature, geography, history, ICT and religious studies, the WJEC said.
Slightly more students took Welsh first language at AS this year but did not continue with it to A-level, where a slight fall in numbers was recorded this year. Entries for Welsh second language at A-level have remained stable, but have dropped at AS.
Qualifications Wales (QW), the independent regulator of qualifications in Wales which oversees how exam boards award GCSE, AS and A-level qualifications and the Welsh Baccalaureate, said it was confident standards are being maintained with the reformed AS and A-levels.
Its chief executive, Philip Blaker, said: “The way that grade boundaries have been set for new A-levels this summer ensures that students are treated fairly.
“They have not been advantaged or disadvantaged by being the first to sit these qualifications.”
QW’s director of regulations, Jo Richards, added: “This summer saw the first award of eight new AS and 14 new A-level qualifications that have been developed for, and taken by, learners in Wales.
“We have closely monitored WJEC’s delivery of these new qualifications and are confident that standards have been maintained.
“Qualifications in subjects that have not yet been reformed continue to be awarded across Wales, England and Northern Ireland.
“The comparable outcomes approach ensures that variability in outcomes at the