Official Statistics

Background information for provisional November 2023 exam entries: GCSE English language and mathematics

Published 30 November 2023

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-november-2023-exam-entries-gcse-english-language-and-mathematics/background-information-for-provisional-november-2023-exam-entries-gcse-english-language-and-mathematics

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 awarding organisations for the November 2023 series. These figures are provisional and represent the number of entries submitted by schools and colleges by 26 October 2023.

Geographical coverage

The report presents data on the number of entries in England for the November 2023 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)

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.

External influences

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

  1. There was a 2-stage return to pre-pandemic grading in summer 2022 and summer 2023. Assessment arrangements in summer 2022 were put in place to reflect a midpoint between summer 2019 and summer 2021. In summer 2023, assessment arrangements ensured results were broadly similar to summer 2019, reflecting a return to pre-pandemic grading standards. Outcomes have therefore fluctuated in recent years which may have influenced the numbers of students sitting their exams in November 2022 and November 2023.
  2. The rules for entry to the November series were changed in 2020 and 2021 following the cancellation of summer exams. Arrangements for the autumn and November 2020 series are set out on the Ofqual website. Further information about arrangements for the November and autumn series in 2021 is also available on the Ofqual website. These new rules for the 2020 and 2021 autumn and November series’ and the assessment arrangements set out in summer 2020 and summer 2021, when exams were cancelled, may have impacted on entries during this time period.
  3. To meet funding requirements post-16, full time students who have not achieved 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. Combined with alternative assessment and grading arrangements between 2020 and 2022 (as mentioned above), this might have led to a change of patterns in entries to November exams.
  4. The increase in entries for 2023 may be partially explained by the 10.4% increase in the 16-year-old population over the past 5 years, from 613,025 in 2019 to 676,773 in 2023 according to ONS population estimates.
  5. Ofqual rules (see GCSE subject-level conditions and requirements for English language and GCSE subject-level conditions and requirements for mathematics) require awarding organisations to take all reasonable steps to ensure that each student who takes exams in the November series has reached at least the age of 16 on or before 31 August in the same calendar year as that assessment. Entries from students younger than 16 are possible under special circumstances. Ofqual requires awarding organisations to notify us where it accepts an early entry for a student younger than this for reasons other than a reasonable adjustment for a student with a disability.

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 26 October 2023.

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.

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.

Published data

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

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.

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.

Status

These statistics are classified as official statistics.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly at data.analytics@ofqual.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

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

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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