Boys narrow the gap in GCSEs

Boys have narrowed the gap with girls at GCSE level in the results published today and pass rates have risen again, but last night headteachers and business leaders voiced their anxiety about the persistent underachievement in key subjects.

The girls' lead over boys at grades A*-C is 8.9%, 0.3 percentage points down on the year before. This is the first reverse since GCSE results were first published in 1988. The overall A*-C rate rose by 0.5 points to 57.1%, the smallest increase in three years.

But figures published by the exam boards show that roughly half of all candidates are failing to achieve grades A-C in the compulsory core subjects: maths, English and science.

Only 50.1% of girls and 49.7% of boys obtained a C or better in maths. In English, 58.5% of girls and 50.8% of boys achieved at least a C. In double award science, the most popular science option, 52.4% of girls and 51.1% of boys achieved grades A-C.

David Hart, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "Clearly the going is getting tougher in the drive to raise standards at GCSE. The government should understand that literacy and numeracy strategies for 11-14 year-olds are not enough.

"A quantum leap in levels of attainment depends also upon urgent solutions to the teacher recruitment and subject mismatch crises that so obviously put standards at risk. There is still a stubborn tail of underachievement with some 2.3m subject entries in the D-G categories."

Margaret Murray, head of learning and skills at the CBI, said: "There have been just slight improvements in English, maths and science. It is alarming for the UK's competitiveness that over 40% fail to achieve a grade C or above in these core subjects."

The CBI called for a "step change in expectations and the rate of progress". Paul Sokoloff, convenor of the Joint Council for General Qualifications, acknowledged the gap between the educational haves and have-nots would widen.

Nevertheless the Department for Education and Skills believes it can achieve its target of 50% of 16-year-olds achieving five A*-C grades by 2002, a year ahead of schedule. It takes longer to compile such figures but last year 49.2% achieved that target.

The former education secretary, David Blunkett, threatened to resign if that goal was not met by 2002.

Stephen Timms, the school standards minister, said: "These results are excellent and show that the GCSE continues to retain its value, particularly as an important progress check for young people. Better grades are a result of pupils working harder and a reflection of the first class support they receive from teachers."

Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "The results show that the panic over the gap between boys' and girls' results is unfounded. Boys are closing the gap at GCSE level and the big story is celebration of the achievements of both sexes and their teachers."

Mr Sokoloff described it as "a small but encouraging sign".

More than 600,000 students will receive GCSE and GNVQ results today. The exam boards said the increase in the number of GCSEs this year, up around 150,000 to 5,632,936, broadly reflected the rise in the number of 16-year-olds. The boards welcomed a jump in the number of students taking information technology. Entries are up 14.2% at GCSE.