GCSE pass rate falls

The overall GCSE pass rate has fallen for the first time as 600,000 students received their results today. The proportion of entries awarded grades A* to G dropped 0.3% from 97.9% to 97.6% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, although there was a 0.2% rise in the proportion gaining grade C and above (from 57.9% to 58.1%).

Charles Clarke, the education secretary, admitted the government faced real challenges over maths and languages.

The falling A* to G pass rate was announced in the week when national primary test results stalled for the second year running, suggesting schools are finding it increasingly difficult to meet the government's demand for constant improvement. Headteachers warned that better results could only be achieved by funding smaller class sizes.

Employers and universities will be concerned by the fact that the proportion of maths GCSE entries awarded A* to Cs fell by 1.1% to 50.2%. Both the number of entries and the grades students gained deteriorated in French and German. Heads said entrance rates were likely to fall from now on as the government has decided to make modern foreign languages optional for 14 to 16-year-olds.

Girls continue to outperform boys at this age, though the gap narrowed slightly. The number of entries from females graded C and above stayed the same at 62.4%, while it rose 0.2% for males from (53.4% to 53.6%).

John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said: "Further substantial improvements in GCSE results depend in the short term on the availability of funding to pay for smaller classes for those getting lower grades. With this year's funding problems, it's unlikely that schools will be able to turn around the rise in the number of ungraded results."

In the longer term schools hoped stronger vocational options for those not succeeding on traditional GCSE courses would be introduced by the working party on reform of 14 to 19 education in England headed by former chief schools inspector Mike Tomlinson.

Pass rates also worsened for GCSE one-year short courses: down from 95.7% to 94.9% - the A* to C pass rate from 50% to 48%.

And the figures suggest the gap between the highest and lowest achievers, which was already among the widest in the industrialised world, is widening. There were 1.3% more entries to the Entry Level Certificate, aimed at those deemed incapable of tackling GCSEs, but the Entry 1 pass rate fell from 96.2% to 96%. By contrast, the proportion of full GCSE entries awarded A*s and As increased 0.3% to 16.7%.

Mr Clarke said: "Once again we've got steady growth at grades A* to C. That's good, but we've also got some real challenges too. It's vital that we look behind the headlines and tackle the underlying issues. Passes have gone up in English, history and some sciences, but we know we've got work to do on maths and languages.

"We've already started, with proposals to improve maths coming out next month, plus a very radical language strategy already in place that means pupils being taught languages from the age of seven. What is very encouraging is those pupils who got good results in this week's 14-year-old-tests will be starting GCSEs in September. The progress they've made will feed through to GCSEs," added Mr Clarke.

Conservative education spokesman Damian Green said the gap between the best and the worst was widening under Labour. "With more than 30,000 pupils leaving school last year alone with no qualifications, the figure looks likely to increase this year. Unless this damaging trend is reversed we will continue to allow generations to drift out of mainstream society and into crime. Despite all the extra spending and target setting, the government is still failing to deliver.

"These figures come at the end of two weeks when A-levels have been downgraded by universities, primary school targets have been missed for the second year running, and the whole future of GCSEs has been called into question. No wonder no one trusts this government on education any longer."

There was little change at the top of the popular subject charts. Aside from the science double award, where candidates get two GCSE grades for taking papers in chemistry, biology and physics, maths was the most widely taken exam, with just under 713,000 entries. English was third, with 688,438 entries, followed by English literature (560,795), design and technology (439,617), French (331,089), geography (232,830), history (218,565) and art (210,366). Religious studies moved up one place from 11th to 10th, with 132,304 entries, German slipped a place to 11th (125,663), while business studies registered the biggest percentage increase, at 23.6%, and moved up to 12th (125,605 entries).