12 September 2023

On Thursday 24th August more than 6 million GCSE and Level 1 and 2 Vocational and Technical Qualification results were issued to students in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

On Thursday 24th August more than 6 million GCSE and Level 1 and 2 Vocational and Technical Qualification results were issued to students in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. This year’s GCSE results are similar to those that were awarded to students before the pandemic.
The CIEA would like to congratulate students receiving their results today and wish them all the best in their chosen next steps. We would also like to thank their teachers, exams officers, school and college leaders in addition to examiners, markers and awarding body personnel for their hard work.

Entry patterns

  • GCSE entries from 16-year-olds have increased by over 400,000 compared to 2019, and there has been an increase in the 16-year-old population since 2019
  • Top 10 subjects with highest number of entries remain unchanged
  • Since 2022, there have been big increases in other subjects with more than 100,000 entries; Business Studies up 14.8% from 107,283 to 123,166. Spanish up 11.3% from 112,845 to 125,651
  • For subjects with under 100,000 entries, Computing is up 11.6% from 81,120 in 2022 to 90,558 in 2023.

GCSE Results

Overall GCSE results are similar to 2019.

Overall GCSE outcomes in comparison with 2019:

  • 7/A up 1.2pp from 20.8% to 22.0%
  • 4/C up 0.9pp from 67.3% to 68.2%
  • 1/G down 0.3pp from 98.3% to 98.0%.

Overall GCSE outcomes in comparison with 2022:

  • 7/A down 4.3pp from 26.3% to 22.0%
  • 4/C down 5.0pp from 73.2% to 68.2%
  • 1/G down 0.4pp from 98.4% to 98.0%.

Entries for GCSE have increased by 3.4% (+196,129). This means the number of students achieving 7/A - 1/G has increased in 2023 in comparison with both 2019 and 2022.

Vocational and technical qualifications

Level 2 (and below) VTQs taken in schools and colleges alongside/as an alternative to GCSEs and included on Performance Tables Qualifications:

  • Offered by 14 Awarding Organisations
  • There are 131 qualifications (differ in terms of purpose, content, size, etc)
  • Range of different grading scales and guided learning hours (120 to 582 GLH).

The number of certificates awarded has changed considerably since summer 2019 making meaningful comparisons over time difficult to interpret.

Further information

Joint Council for Qualifications

Ofqual