Royal Society responds to A level results

Professor Jane Clarke FRS, Chair of the Royal Society Advisory Committee for Mathematics Education (ACME), said: 

"Congratulations to everyone receiving their results today, as well as to teachers, parents and carers for their constant support in helping students get to this point.  

"It is fantastic to see Core Maths results being released with A levels, vocational and technical qualifications for the first time. Celebrating Core Maths results in this way is a huge step in increasing awareness of its value to schools and colleges, universities and employers. Not only is it encouraging to see Core Maths grow in popularity, but the gender balance is almost even, in contrast with maths and Further Maths.

"However, students need quantitative skills more than ever in their careers and in life, and opportunities for students to take Core Maths are unevenly spread. Core Maths qualifications are clearly valued by those who have access to the subject, with numbers jumping to over 15,000 this year, but provision needs to improve to ensure no pupil is left out.

"We are pleased to see increases in entries across many STEM subjects at A level this year, including significant increases in mathematics and physics. It is really disappointing to not only see a decrease in the number of computing entries, but also the continuation of a stark gender disparity in the subject, with girls making up only 18% of entries. However, girls who do take computing at A level tend to outperform boys.

"The welcome rise in take-up across some STEM subjects sadly has come at the expense of humanities, arts, social sciences and languages. That shows the shortcomings of our ridiculously narrow post-16 education system. We are an international outlier in forcing young people to give up on many parts of what should be a more rounded education, and reports show that choices have grown even narrower since the decoupling of A levels and AS levels (see 2021 PDF report). 

"Education should inspire young people at the same time as providing essential skills, knowledge, creativity and critical thinking, and breadth of subject choice is a key aspect of this. This is part of a much bigger problem with our outdated education system that cannot be fixed with mere tweaks. Nevertheless, as we recommended in our response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the Government should strongly consider the benefits of recoupling AS and A levels as a first step to addressing declines in subject breadth at post-16."