The issue explained: GCSEs

It's GCSE day and the pass rate has gone up again - for a higher number of candidates - does this mean standards are falling?
It's the pass rate for A-star to C grades - roughly equivalent to the old O-level - that has gone up by 1.1 percentage points to 59.8% (a bigger rise than last summer's 0.2 point rise). The overall GCSE pass rate has stayed exactly the same at 97.6%. This leaves everyone free to a) complain about grade inflation; b) insist that standards have been maintained.


So the pass rate is the same as last year - does this mean the government's drive to improve standards has stalled?
Not according to the school standards minister, David Miliband. Maths entries are up by 4.5% and the A-star to C pass rate rose 1.6 percentage points to 51.7%, and there were increases in the numbers going in for chemistry, physics and biology - although as science entries overall were approximately stable, this suggests schools are simply switching back from double award science to the three separate subjects. The minister was less vocal about the drop in French and German entries - proof, say critics, that the government's policy of letting pupils drop a language at age 14 is already having a bad effect.

Which subjects are up and which are down?
Spanish is up - but numbers don't compensate for the losses in French and German. Physical education (PE) is up 10% and there has been a noticeable rise in religious education (6.6%). History is up and geography is down. The large increase in IT courses contrasts with the downturn at A-level in this subject.

Does the rise in entries to a staggering 5.8m in England, Wales and Northern Ireland mean standards are going up? Or down?
No, it means there are more 16-year-olds around this year than there were last year. In fact the 2.5% rise in entries was lower than the increase of 3.4% in the age group, so schools seem to have been keeping their weaker pupils out of the exam, possibly diverting them into alternative courses. This tendency will increase as the government promotes more vocational courses for 14-year-olds.

Boys did badly again, one assumes
Well, worse than girls, obviously - boys have been behind since GCSEs started in 1986. But the gap at A-star to C narrowed slightly to 8.4 percentage points, as boys' pass rates rose 1.3 percentage points, compared to 0.9 for girls. And of course plenty of lads do brilliantly.