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Science and maths remain the top two subjects in GCSEs taken, but significant increases have occurred in statistics and computer science, and there has been a small uplift in design and technology (D&T). Students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland today received more than 5.6 million GCSE results.

While the pass rate has fallen for a third year running (67.6%), results are similar to those in 2019 – the last year exams were taken before Covid-19. There has also been an increase in engineering gateway subjects.

Figures released by the Joint Council for Qualifications reveal that science (980,786 entries) and mathematics (878,165 entries) had the highest number of entries.

There continues to be an uptake in computer science with an increase at 5.8% – from 90,558 last year to 95,841. However, digital technology (previously ICT) has decreased from last year (8,527 vs 8,753).

D&T has also increased from last year (88,607 vs 86,840). However, while this is a 2% rise, it represents...

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  • The potential issue with this is that there are more qualifications that can be offered then GCSEs. Many education institutions near me offer the more vocational Level 1/2 qualifications for the Design/Technology/IT/Engineering/Construction area and not the GCSEs. Is the lack of growth to D&T GCSE simply because the alternative qualifications are growing instead? (from the article the answer seems to be no)

    In a world in which computing and AI is growing more important, I would argue that the current D&T curriculum could be seen as outdated which will impact it's popularity and growth. But the real issue can be the availability of skilled specialist teachers to teach the subject. It is also important on how the subject is taught at KS3. This is essentially the sales pitch for the subject at GCSE.

    The National Computing Center has done some great work with producing great materials for teaching computer science (which as a STEM Ambassador I have seen).

    A similar organisation for Engineering would be of benefit to provide support teachers teaching the Engineering area. It should be noted that IET Education does have some great materials available to teachers. Although, I wryly note those materials are predominately aligned to the GCSEs (but probably could be adapted for the other qualifications).

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