Pupils achieving 5 or more GCSE grades A*–C, 2005/06
In their last year of compulsory education 59 per cent of pupils in the UK achieved five or more A*–C grade GCSEs (or Scottish equivalent examinations) in 2005/06. The highest proportion achieving these grades were in Northern Ireland, with 63 per cent, and the South East, with 60 per cent.
These results indicate a significant improvement on the equivalent figures from ten years previously. In 1995/96, 46 per cent of pupils in the UK achieved this level of qualification. The proportion of pupils with no graded results fell from 7 per cent to 3 per cent.
Throughout the UK in 2005/06, a markedly higher proportion of females, 64 per cent, achieved five or more A*–C grade GCSEs or equivalent compared with 54 per cent of males. The gap between males and females, 10 percentage points, was the same in 1995/96. This difference in achievement can be seen across all the countries and regions of the United Kingdom. In 2005/06, the gap between female and male success was widest in Wales and Northern Ireland, where the difference was 12 percentage points.
For specific subjects, 68 per cent of females achieved a GCSE grade A*–C (or equivalent) in English compared to 52 per cent of males. Females were again more successful in results for ‘any modern language’, 41 per cent achieving the higher grades compared with 27 per cent of males – a difference of 14 percentage points. However, in mathematics, the difference in achievement between females and males narrowed to 3 percentage points.
Note: GCSE figures for England are for pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in the 2005/06 academic year; for Scotland to pupils in year S4; and for Wales and Northern Ireland to pupils aged 16. GCSE figures for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland include publicly funded and independent schools, whereas figures for the English regions are local authority maintained schools only.
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