Subject level differences in grading remain
Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2025 8:38 am
Across almost all subjects, there was barely any change in the percentage of pupils awarded grades 9-4 this year. Results for 2024 (and 2023) were largely in line with those in 2019.
The exceptions were computer science, in austria rcs data which Ofqual had instructed boards to make adjustments to raise grades, and statistics, in which attainment in 2023 and 2024 remained below 2019 levels. Entries in statistics have increased 70% since 2019. The inference we make is that the recent cohorts had lower prior attainment than the 2019 cohort.
At grades 9-7 we see a similar pattern with computer science and statistics.
We also see an increase in results in French (2 percentage points) and German (3.5 percentage points), again after Ofqual instructed boards to make an adjustment. However, the results of this were less apparent at the grade 4 borderline, although there was a 0.6 percentage point increase in both.
Grades in selective and independent schools remain high
In terms of 9-7 grades, there was little change in results for each centre type between 2023 and 2024.
Taking the data published by Ofqual at face value, secondary selective schools were the highest attaining, followed by independent schools. Both improved by 1 percentage point compared to last year. To some extent you would expect these schools to improve by a greater margin compared to other schools. Last year, for example, pupils at these schools would have been disproportionately located at the upper end of the grade 6/7 boundary and thus more likely to benefit from any national uplift in performance.
The exceptions were computer science, in austria rcs data which Ofqual had instructed boards to make adjustments to raise grades, and statistics, in which attainment in 2023 and 2024 remained below 2019 levels. Entries in statistics have increased 70% since 2019. The inference we make is that the recent cohorts had lower prior attainment than the 2019 cohort.
At grades 9-7 we see a similar pattern with computer science and statistics.
We also see an increase in results in French (2 percentage points) and German (3.5 percentage points), again after Ofqual instructed boards to make an adjustment. However, the results of this were less apparent at the grade 4 borderline, although there was a 0.6 percentage point increase in both.
Grades in selective and independent schools remain high
In terms of 9-7 grades, there was little change in results for each centre type between 2023 and 2024.
Taking the data published by Ofqual at face value, secondary selective schools were the highest attaining, followed by independent schools. Both improved by 1 percentage point compared to last year. To some extent you would expect these schools to improve by a greater margin compared to other schools. Last year, for example, pupils at these schools would have been disproportionately located at the upper end of the grade 6/7 boundary and thus more likely to benefit from any national uplift in performance.