This year’s GCSE and A level results, announced last month, seemed to herald a welcome stability to the examinations system, but is this masking deeper rumblings beneath the surface?
It is remarkable that A level results have remained relatively stable, with only a negligible rise in the overall A* to E pass rate (up 0.1 per cent from 98 per cent last year to 98.1 per cent this year). However, while the proportion of A* grades has remained constant (at 8.2 per cent), the proportion of A* to A grades has continued to decline.
While this decline may be regarded as very slight (from 26 per cent last year to 25.9 per cent this year), this sustains a deteriorating trend stretching back to 2011, when the exams regulator, Ofqual, toughened its approach to stemming the tide of so-called “grade inflation” by imposing stringent parameters on both overall pass rates and the number of top grades.
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