Official Statistics

Background information for provisional November 2021 exam entries: GCSE English language and mathematics

Published 25 November 2021

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/entries-for-gcse-november-2021-exam-series/background-information-for-provisional-november-2021-exam-entries-gcse-english-language-and-mathematics

1. Purpose

GCSE English language and mathematics are routinely available for assessment in an annual November exam series. This release presents the number of entries submitted to exam boards for the exams being sat in November 2021. These figures are provisional and represent the number of entries submitted by schools and colleges to exam boards by 28 October 2021.

2. Geographical coverage

The report presents data on the number of entries in England for the November 2021 exam series.

Four awarding organisations offer GCSE English Language and Mathematics qualifications in England:

  • AQA Education (AQA)
  • Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR)
  • Pearson Education Ltd. (Pearson)
  • WJEC-CBAC Ltd. (WJEC or Eduqas)

3. Description

This release shows the number of entries broken down by subject and age of students based on school year groups.

The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) assigns a title (JCQ title) and a code (JCQ code) to every qualification according to a category defined by JCQ which groups qualifications in subject groups. JCQ groupings are used in this release to filter and sort the data in the data tables.

4. External influences

There are various factors which might have influenced the entries for the November GCSE series.

  1. The rules for entry to the November series were changed in 2020 and 2021 because of the disruption to the summer series caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Further information about arrangements for the November and autumn series in 2021 are available on the Ofqual website. The reasons and arrangements for the autumn 2020 series are also set out on the Ofqual website. In addition to students who would normally be entitled to take GCSEs in English language and mathematics in November, students were able to enter the November 2021 series if they did not feel that the grade they received in the summer reflected their ability or if they were unable to receive a teacher assessed grade. Students under 16 years of age on 31 August of the examination year have not been able to enter the November series since 2017, but – in line with other students - were able to do so in 2021 where they had entered for the summer series or where exam boards believed they had intended to had exams taken place.
  2. In 2017, GCSE English language and GCSE mathematics were reformed. These GCSEs are now graded on a 9 to 1 scale (9 denoting the highest passing grade and 1 denoting the lowest passing grade). More information on the phases of the GCSE reform is available on the Ofqual website. Information about the grading of GCSEs is also available on the Ofqual website`.
  3. November 2017 was the first opportunity for students to re-sit exams for 9 to 1 GCSEs in English language and mathematics. Students were also able to re-sit these subjects in summer 2018, and in November or the summer of subsequent years.
  4. Since August 2015 full time students who have not achieved a grade C or above – and from 2017 a grade 4 or above – in English language/English literature or mathematics, at GCSE or a Level 1/2 certificate in these subjects, must continue studying these subjects in order to meet funding requirements post-16.

5. Data Source

Awarding organisations submit data to Ofqual for GCSE, AS and A levels they award. We contact any awarding organisation that does not return a complete set of data within the collection period to make sure the data is as complete as possible.

Entries data are collected at a point when they should be reasonably complete, although final entry numbers may be slightly different from these. These figures are therefore provisional and represent entry information for GCSEs received by awarding organisations by 28 October 2021.

6. Limitations

There is potential for error in the information provided by awarding organisations and Ofqual cannot guarantee that the information it received is correct. Ofqual quality assures data as far as possible, performing a number of checks on the data, for example, checks for systematic issues. Summary data are sent back to awarding organisations for checking and confirmation. However, it is still possible that some errors may remain undetected.

7. Quality assurance

Quality assurance procedures are carried out as explained in the Quality Assurance Framework for Statistical Publications published by Ofqual to ensure the accuracy of the data and to challenge or question it, where necessary. Publication may be deferred if the statistics are not considered fit for purpose.

8. Published data

The data underlying these statistics are published alongside this statistical release at 9:30am on the day of release.

9. Revisions

Once published, data on the number of provisional entries are not usually subject to revision, although subsequent releases may be revised to insert late data or to correct an error. In some cases, data may be amended to reflect any new categorisation of subjects.

10. Confidentiality and rounding

To ensure confidentiality of the accompanying data, all figures for the number of entries are rounded. In the accompanying data tables and commentary, the figures are rounded to the nearest 5. If the value is less than 5 (1 to 4), it is represented as 0~ and 0 represents zero values.

Total values of rows or columns are calculated using unrounded figures; the sum of rounded figures may differ from the total reported.

Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number. As a result of rounded figures, the percentages (calculated on actual figures) shown in tables may not necessarily add up to 100.

11. Status

These statistics are classified as official statistics.

For any related publications for qualifications offered in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland please contact the respective regulators - Qualifications Wales, CCEA and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

  1. Report and data tables accompanying this release
  2. Definitions of important terms used in this release
  3. Policies and procedures that Ofqual follows for production of statistical releases

14. Feedback

We welcome your feedback on our publications. Should you have any comments on this statistical release and how to improve it to meet your needs please contact us at data.analytics@ofqual.gov.uk.

Head of profession: Nadir Zanini

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