This report is focused on the uptake of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) subjects in England in 2023. Uptake in a GCSE subject is defined as the number or percentage of students at the end of Key Stage 4 (KS4) taking the subject. This report was produced using publicly available data from the Department for Education's (DfE). The…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruption to education systems around the world. In England, as part of the government's response to the pandemic, schools and colleges were closed and lessons were moved partially or entirely online. Furthermore, public examinations in June 2020 were cancelled, meaning that methods had to be developed…

This report is focused on the uptake of A level subjects in England in 2023. Uptake in an A level subject is defined as the number or percentage of students at the end of Key Stage 5 (who have entered for at least one AS or A level) taking the subject. This report was produced using publicly available data from the Department for Education's (DfE)…

The Black Lives Matter movement has increased attention paid to whiteness and education. This paper contributes to this attention by investigating epistemologies of Geography and their enactment in two 'multicultural' schools. Through textual analysis, lesson observations and interviews with GCSE Geography students and teachers, I inquire into the…

In England, GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) qualifications offered to students aged 14-16 were recently reformed. For mathematics specifically, the new GCSE aimed to be more demanding, provide greater challenge for the most able students, and support progression to post-16 mathematics. However, there have been concerns that the…

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) has been for the last 35 years the most common qualification by which students' attainment at age 16 has been measured. The range and balance of processes by which the GCSEs' programmes of study have been assessed have varied over the decades, to include…

Academic attainment is a core education policy priority. Wellbeing is recognized as critical for adolescent development, and is linked to academic attainment. Yet research with adolescents primarily focuses on life satisfaction or overall wellbeing, despite differentiating conceptually between two wellbeing components "feeling" good…

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) has been the qualification by which students' attainment at age sixteen has been measured for the last thirty years. Despite the longevity of GCSEs, relatively little research has explored the views and experiences of those undertaking them. Using a…

This report looks at the provision of GCSE subjects in England in 2023. Provision in a subject is defined as the number or percentage of schools with at least one student taking the subject. It could be argued that this may not cover all the 'provision', since schools might offer to provide a subject but none of their students wants to study it.…

The COVID-19 pandemic suspended established practices that, in normal times, are seen as central to the functioning of education systems. For example, in England, school closures led to the cancellation of national examinations in 2020, and their attempted replacement with an algorithmic model. Following public outcry about what were seen as the…

The main aim of this research was to investigate the impact of reducing the number of components on overall performance in GCSE subjects. In particular, researchers were interested in how the grade achieved by candidates on a reduced number of components compares to their grade on the full qualification. This research mainly looked at GCSEs with…

This paper examines the reactions of English pupils who were preparing for GCSE and A-Level examinations to the 2020 exam cancellations resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, it addresses a gap in international research related to high stakes testing by presenting pupils' perspectives. It uses a Bourdieusian framework to explore the…

There are two major myths concerning A level exam standards in England. First, the Ancient Myth, which insists that standards were norm-referenced until the 1980s, when they transitioned to being criterion-referenced. Second, the Modern Myth, which insists that standards transitioned again, during the 2010s, to being based upon the comparable…

The recent global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic created significant challenges for society, not least for education. England went into lockdown in March 2020; following this, A Level exams were cancelled and the Department for Education announced that results were to be determined by teacher-assessed grades. This paper draws upon research…

Continuing to study mathematics is currently a requirement for low attaining 16- to 18-year olds in Further Education, as part of an ongoing drive to raise basic numeracy skills in England. However, these students, widely regarded as demotivated, often fail to make any progress in mathematics over the two years. This research explores how students…