Record GCSE results but gender gap widens

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Boys are still failing to catch up with girls at GCSE, despite another record year of results.

More entrants were given the top A and A* grades and 69.8 per cent of candidates were awarded between an A* and a C grade, with the pass rate increasing for the 23rd year in a row.

But the results of around 650,000 pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland show boys are falling further behind girls, particularly on top marks.

More than one in four (26.5 per cent) of girls' entries were awarded an A or A* this summer, compared to 19.8 per cent of boys' exams.

The 6.7 per cent gap is the widest it has been since the A* grade was first introduced in 1994.

This is the opposite of what has seen in last week’s A-level results, where figures showed that boys are closing the gap in top grades

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said the gap could be to do with a "lack of maturity" among boys.

He added: "At A-level, boys are clearly very focused on the grades they need for university entry.

"Boys will focus on a means to an end and they will therefore aim for the end, and we've seen an increase in that.

"At GCSE perhaps that sort of maturity that girls have at that stage is not quite there with the boys, and they can't see that obvious reason to aim for the A*."

However, boys did achieve higher results in Maths, with 16.6 per cent gaining an A or A*, compared to 16.5 per cent of girls.

In other subjects, the figures reveal a drop in the number of pupils taking modern foreign languages as well as history and geography.

Entries for French and German fell again this year, as did Spanish. And History entries were down around 2,700 from last year.

Geography entries dropped by 13,800.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said: "Today we can congratulate thousands of young people as they collect their GCSE results and celebrate the culmination of five years of secondary education.

"No-one should underestimate the hard work and application needed to gain GCSE qualifications.

"But we have to make sure we prepare young people for the future, whether they are going onto further education, training or into the workplace.

"While it is encouraging to see the rising uptake in maths and single sciences, it is worrying that once again there are falling numbers studying languages.

"Through the English Baccalaureate, we want to make sure all pupils have the chance to study the core academic subjects which universities and employers demand."

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: "Congratulations to all the young people and teachers who have worked so hard to maintain the year on year improvement in the GCSE results.

"They should pay no heed to the serial detractors who emerge every year to trash their achievements by making unsubstantiated claims that exams are getting easier and ‘soft’ subjects have been chosen."

However, she criticised the coalition government approach, adding that it has "ripped up the social contract between the state and young people".

Keates added: "Unless there is a change of policy direction, the betrayal of young people will continue and the country will be starved of the skills needed to support future prosperity."

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Elizabeth Truss has argued that in future pupils should sit GCSEs in five traditional academic subjects so that Britain can remain a competitive nation.