GCSE results day 2023 LIVE: Students face anxious wait with 300,000 FEWER top marks likely to be dished out as pre-Covid grading returns

Follow MailOnline’s liveblog today as hundreds of thousands of pupils in Britain pick up their GCSE results: 

Host commentator

Host commentator

Schools minister Nick Gibb said ‘it is fair to have the grading back to 2019 levels’.

He told Times Radio: ‘We want to return to 2019 grading standards. We want to get back to normal so we make sure that we retain the value and credibility of GCSEs and A-levels.’

He added: ‘These young people have been in schools for two years, they have had disruption to their education particularly in years eight and nine and we have had very significant recovery programmes, a £5 billion recovery programme to help those young people catch up.

‘But it is important to get back to normal. Exams are the fairest system, and it is fair to have the grading back to 2019 levels consistent to all the years prior to 2019 and consistent with the years next year and the year beyond as well.’

Results from the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) for GCSEs taken in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be released at 9.30am today.

In England, pupils were given formulae and equation sheets in GCSE mathematics, physics, and combined science exams to acknowledge pandemic disruption to learning.

GCSE students were also not expected to confront unfamiliar words in language exams.

Exam papers in the same subject were spaced out more in the GCSE timetable than they were prior to the pandemic to give students more time to revise.

Many GCSE students in Wales and Northern Ireland were given advance information about topics to expect in their exam papers this summer, but pupils in England were not given the same support.

In England, the exams regulator has said this year’s GCSE results will be lower than last year, but they are expected to be similar to 2019 as part of its plan to return to pre-pandemic grading this summer.

But Ofqual has built protection into the grading process which should enable a pupil to get the grade they would have received before the pandemic even if their quality of work is a little weaker this year.

It comes after Covid-19 led to an increase in top GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.

In Northern Ireland and Wales, exam regulators have said they do not expect to return to pre-pandemic grading levels until next year.

In Wales, results are expected to be ‘broadly midway’ between those awarded in 2022 – the first year students sat exams following the pandemic – and 2019.

Grading is different in England, compared with Wales and Northern Ireland.

In England, GCSEs are graded using a numerical system from 9 to 1 rather than from A* to G – with 9 being the highest grade.

In general, a grade 7 and above is roughly equivalent to an A and above, while a grade 4 and above is roughly equivalent to a C and above.

Grade 4 and above is considered a ‘standard pass’.

But performance data released by the Government highlights the percentage of pupils in a school who achieved a 5 or above in English and maths GCSEs – which is roughly equivalent to a high grade C or low grade B.

In Northern Ireland, the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment uses a nine-category grade scale A* – G – which includes a C*.

In Wales, the traditional eight-category grade scale A*- G has been retained.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said differences in GCSE grading across the UK should not disadvantage pupils.

Asked if some pupils were being disadvantaged through a lack of continuity across all four nations of the UK when it comes to grading, he told GB News: ‘No they won’t be because the sixth form or wherever they are going to go next in the next phase of their education, they take that into account, they know there is a difference approach to grading.

‘And we saw that last week with A Levels, that universities are aware of the different approaches to these qualifications in different parts of the United Kingdom. And the same applies to GCSEs. Most young people will transition to an institution local to them.’

Schools minister Nick Gibb said it was important to get GCSE grading ‘back to normal’.

Speaking on GB News, he offered his congratulations to students and thanks to teachers, saying: ‘We are returning 2019 grading. It’s important to get back to normal, away from the three years when we had higher grades because of teacher assessed grades and then the transition last year from teacher assessed grades back to 2019 levels.

‘We’ve seen a big increase based on provisional numbers in computer science, in languages, and so these I hope will be a good set of results when they come out.’

Last year, more than a quarter (26.3%) of UK GCSE entries were awarded top grades, compared with 28.9% in 2021 and 26.2% in 2020.

In 2019 – the year before the pandemic – around one in five (20.8%) entries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were awarded a 7/A or above.

In England, exams regulator Ofqual has said this year’s GCSE results will be lower than last year and they would be similar to those in 2019.

While traditional A*-G grades are used in Northern Ireland and Wales, in England GCSEs are graded using a numerical system from 9 to 1 rather than from A* to G – with 9 being the highest grade.

A 4 is broadly equivalent to a C grade, and a 7 is broadly equivalent to an A.

Pupils face a record rise in GCSE retakes when results are released today

A record rise in GCSE retakes is expected as tougher grading is predicted to lead to 75,000 pupils failing English and maths.

Thousands of students in England face misery today when results are released as the number of failed grades is predicted to soar.

Around 325,000 grades will be handed out as fails according to a prediction by Professor Alan Smithers, the University of Buckingham’s director of education.

Read the full story from the Daily Mail’s Connor Stringer here:

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage as teenagers across the country wake up to their GCSE results in a year when the proportion of top grades awarded is expected to fall.

Hundreds of thousands of pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are receiving grades to help them progress to sixth form, college or training.

Similar to the pattern with A-level results last week, it is expected that top GCSE grades will drop on last year as part of a plan to bring grades down to pre-pandemic levels in England this year.

It comes after Covid-19 led to an increase in top grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.

Stay with us throughout today for live updates.

Source: Read Full Article