Ian Jones

GCSE results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland show that 22.0% of entries received top grades, slightly above last year and 2019, while the standard pass rate fell marginally to 67.3%, matching the pre-pandemic level. Girls continue to outperform boys, although the gender gap has narrowed to its smallest recorded level since 2000. More older students took English and maths resits, but pass rates in both subjects declined. Education Secretary Lucy Powell said the government would consider introducing Level 1 stepping-stone qualifications to reduce the stigma and repeated failure associated with resits. Regional inequality also worsened, with the gap in top-grade attainment between London and the North East reaching a record 10.9 percentage points.