Listed below are seven tendencies on this 12 months’s GCSE outcomes:
– Huge languages flounder
International languages haven't been obligatory as a GCSE for nearly twenty years. Throughout that point, their reputation has collapsed – and the pattern has continued this 12 months.
GCSE French had 129,419 entries in 2022 – down 2% on final 12 months, a lower of 16% on 10 years in the past and an enormous fall of 62% from 2002.
It's a comparable story for German, which had 36,327 entries this 12 months – down 5% from final 12 months, a 37% lower from 2012 and a large 71% drop since 2002.
Spanish had risen in reputation lately, but it surely too recorded a fall in 2022, with 112,845 entries, down 2% from 2021.
Spanish is already the preferred overseas language at A-level. In just a few years’ time – ought to its numbers begin to develop once more – it may also be the preferred at GCSE.
– Small languages flourish
It's not all dangerous information for languages, nonetheless.
The variety of entries for topics classed as “different fashionable languages” jumped sharply this 12 months by 47%, after dipping in each 2020 and 2021.
There have been a complete of 36,445 entries throughout the 15 languages that make up this class, the very best quantity on document and – maybe symbolically – greater than the 36,327 entries for German.
Throughout the group, the preferred selections had been Polish (6,003 entries), Chinese language (5,504), Arabic (4,931) and Italian (4,897).
– Dwelling economics has the most important gender imbalance
GCSE dwelling economics was formally dropped from the syllabus a number of years in the past, however simply over 2,000 candidates took the topic in 2022, of whom 98% had been ladies – the most important gender imbalance of any topic, as was the case in 2021.
Different topics the place ladies accounted for the overwhelming majority of entries this 12 months included performing/expressive arts (95%), well being and social care (94%) and social sciences (70%).
Boys made up essentially the most entries in building (90%), engineering (83%) and computing (79%), in addition to the small class known as “different know-how topics” (95%).
– Music sounds a bitter word
The long-term decline of GCSE music appears to have resumed, after a quick respite in 2020 and 2021 when entries rose barely.
This 12 months the topic had 37,705 entries – down 4% on final 12 months and a fall of 19% from 10 years in the past.
Drama can also be persevering with to say no, with 57,308 entries this 12 months – down 6% on 2021 and a drop of 25% since 2012.
Finishing a bleak image for the inventive industries, the topic of performing arts had simply 8,200 entries this 12 months – down 6% from final 12 months and a fall of 61% prior to now decade.
– Computing overtakes PE
In what feels prefer it should be a symbolic second, for the primary time the variety of entries for GCSE computing (81,120) outnumbered these for PE (79,924).
Computing was first assessed as a GCSE topic in 2014 and since then the recognition of sitting in entrance of a keyboard, slightly than operating and leaping about, has elevated steadily.
Entries for computing stood at simply 16,773 in 2014. There have been nearly 5 occasions this quantity in 2022.
– Enterprise is booming
The current progress in GCSE enterprise research reveals no signal of faltering. There have been 107,283 entries this 12 months – up 5% from final 12 months and a rise of 52% from a decade in the past.
The topic is at present the 14th hottest alternative at GCSE however is prone to transfer up the rankings within the subsequent few years, explicit if French (at present twelfth) and Spanish (thirteenth) proceed to fall or stage off.
It gained’t be lengthy earlier than enterprise research is again to the extent of recognition it loved within the early Noughties, when it had 125,605 entries in 2003.
– The last decade’s winners and losers
Ten years in the past, some 12.7% of GCSE entries – round one in eight – had been for arts topics, similar to geography, historical past and spiritual research.
This 12 months the determine stood at 14.4%, or round one in seven.
Over the identical interval, the proportion of entries accounted for by the performing arts and media has dropped from 3.9% to 2.4%.
Artwork, design and know-how have additionally taken a success, with these topics accounting for 8.1% of entries in 2012 and 5.1% in 2022.
However science has held regular, accounting for simply over 1 / 4 of all entries in each 2012 and 2022.
Computing topics have elevated barely, from 1.0% to 1.6%.