Royal Society comments on A-Level results

The Royal Society has welcomed an increase in the number of students taking science and mathematics A-Levels. However it expresses concern at the continuing decline in students studying ICT and computing A-Levels.

Professor Dame Athene Donald FRS, Chair of the Royal Society's Education Committee, commented:

“It is heartening to see a steady increase in the number of students taking biology, physics, chemistry, maths and further maths at A-Level –especially against the backdrop of a 1.1 % drop in total entries across all subjects. As science increasingly becomes part of our daily lives in business, technology and the medicines we use and the decisions we have to take, more and more students are realising the opportunities careers in science and maths open up.

Nevertheless, it is very worrying to see a drop in the number of students studying ICT and computing for the 10th year running. So much of how we work, communicate and entertain ourselves is now based on computing and this is only going to increase. Government needs to continue looking carefully at how ICT and computing are being taught in schools and in particular the lack of specialist teachers, as suggested in the Royal Society’s report ‘Shut down or Restart? The way forward for Computing in UK schools’.”