Royal Society comments on A Level results

Commenting on the A Level results released today Professor Tom McLeish FRS, Chair of the Royal Society's Education Committee, said:

“It is very encouraging to see that maths continues to be the most popular A Level this year with an increasing proportion of students choosing the subject. Maths is a core life skill, a beautiful way of thinking and opens a lot of doors so this increase is a positive sign that young people realise the excellent prospects that studying maths offers them. We hope this trend will continue and that, as suggested in the Royal Society’s Vision for science and mathematics education report, the principle that young people should study maths until 18 will be established across the UK. 

"It’s also very good to see an increase in young people choosing to study ICT and Computing to A Level. In our digital world computing is so much a part of our daily lives in how we communicate, how we work and what we do in our free time, so it is pleasing to see students recognising the opportunities studying computing and ICT opens up. 

"However, there is still a large difference in the numbers of girls and boys taking Computing and ICT with over 90% of computing A Levels being taken by boys. The government, schools, media and Computing industry must continue to tackle this gender gap and make sure the opportunities that computing can offer are just as accessible to young female students.

"Physics, chemistry and biology remain popular but we would like to see even more students take these inspiring subjects.”