The gap between disadvantaged students and their peers in average A-level grades achieved this year was the widest since the statistics were first collected in 2016-17, new government data reveals.
Poorer students’ average A-level grade was C+ almost a full grade lower than their wealthier peers’ average B grade achieved in exams sat this summer, statistics published today by the Department for Education show.
Students returned to exam halls for the first time in three years this summer after exams were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid pandemic.
Results were determined via teacher-assessed grades in 2021, leading to higher grades and concerns about grade inflation.
But this summer exams returned with mitigations in place to help students who had their learning disrupted by the pandemic, including advance information on topics and exam aids, such as formulae and equation sheets.
The disadvantage gap in A-level results
This year’s A-level results in England revealed an expected decrease in the proportion of top A* grades, as well as a decrease in the proportion achieving A*-C grades, compared with last year.
The data published today shows that the average A-level grade achieved in 2022 was a B, which was slightly lower than for last year’s teacher-assessed grades but higher than the C+ average grade achieved when exams were last sat in 2019. This had been expected.
The average grade achieved by students in the South East was a B, which was slightly higher than all other regions, where it was a B-, according to the data.
However, this summer’s results showed that the attainment gap widened in terms of the proportion of A-level exam entries achieving top grades in the Northern and Southern regions since exams were last held before the Covid pandemic.
The gap between the North East, which received the lowest proportion of A-level A* and A grades out of all the regions (30.8 per cent), and the South East, which received the highest proportion (39.5 per cent), was 8.7 percentage points in 2022 - a jump from 5.3 in 2019.
Stem gender gap
The reversal of the long-standing gender gap in top grades achieved in Stem subjects, which involved female students doing better in biology, physics, maths and further maths and computer science in 2021, did not hold this year.
This year there was a return to the pattern seen in 2019, when male students were more likely to achieve higher grades in chemistry, physics, maths, and further maths.
Exam regulator Ofqual said in September that it was planning a return to pre-pandemic grading for GCSEs and A levels in 2023, as expected, but with “some protection against any impact of Covid disruption”.
A DfE spokesperson said: “We know the pandemic has particularly affected older pupils’ education, which is why it is so important we continue to do all we can to help pupils to catch up.
“We will continue to roll out our £5 billion education recovery programme. This includes providing over £800 million targeting pupils aged 16 to 19 to increase their time in schools and colleges by around 40 hours a year. As well as, doubling the funding secondary schools receive through our £1 billion recovery premium, meaning a typical secondary school is receiving around £60,000 this year.
“This support for older pupils sits alongside targeted investment for areas of the country where outcomes are weakest as we continue work to drive up standards for pupils in every corner of the country.”
Commenting on today’s data Sam Tuckett, associate director at the Education Policy Institute, said: “As feared, the return to exams in 2022 confirmed that disadvantage gaps in the 16-19 phase of education have widened over the course of the pandemic.
“Previous EPI research revealed the pandemic to have exacerbated inequalities within the education system, yet it’s extremely concerning that the 16-19 disadvantage gap now stands at its widest since the first publication of official measures. This reinforces the need for additional targeted support for disadvantaged young people, in the form of a student premium for the 16-19 phase.
“This widening of the attainment gap was much more pronounced for applied general qualifications, which increased in popularity over this period. Disadvantaged students are less likely to enter A levels, so looking just at differences within qualification type is likely to mask the true extent to which disadvantaged students have fallen behind. ”
