Georgia Greer, ISE’s Head of Insights, considers what this year’s A-level results mean for those working in early careers.

Following the return to pre-pandemic standards last year, A-level grading has continued as normal for 2024 and overall, we’re pretty much back to where we were before Covid.

But with many universities in financial distress, high drop-out rates for T-levels and notable regional divides, what is the nuance and key takeaways for ISE members?

Best A-level results in a decade or more

• In England, 9.3% of A-level entries gained A* grades, while 27.6% got A and A*s.
• Other than in 2020, 2021 and 2022, when awards were affected by changes to assessments caused by Covid, the proportion was higher than any year since the A* grade was introduced (2010), and before that going back to 2001.
• More students took STEM A-levels with noted increases in results in maths, further maths and physics A-levels.

Regional and socio-economic divides worsening

• Students in London and the south-east of England recorded more than 30% of their A-level entries were A* or A grades.
• Verses the East Midlands which only saw top grades up by 0.2 percentage points (to 22.5%).
• However, the West Midlands, which had previously been among the worst-performing regions, enjoyed an above-average increase to 24.8% of entries gaining A* or A. Clearly still significantly behind London and SE results though.
• In Northern Ireland 30.3% of A-level entrants got A or A* (down by seven percentage points compared with 2023), and in Wales the proportion fell from 34% to 27.6%.
• The gap between grammar schools and non-selective schools in selective areas such as Kent also widened – 41% in grammar schools getting A and A* compared with 17% in the non-selective secondary moderns.
• Independent schools gaining the best results, with almost 50% of students getting A or better.

Impact on HE

• HE members will no doubt be aware that there are more clearance places available for domestic students (given reduction of international students applying for courses this year). Great news for students, less great for the universities…
• Asked by Sky News whether tuition fees would be increased within the next five years, Phillipson (Education Secretary) said: “I do recognise the challenge, and I hear that message from institutions as well, but I think that’s a really unpalatable thing to be considering.” This has put the media spotlight on UK university finances and the likelihood that some may have to close before this new intake finish their degrees.

Vocational outcomes

• For context, this year there were more than 800,000 A-level results announced. For vocational and technical qualifications there were around 400,000 awards. This included more than 200,000 level three BTECs (which are equivalent to A-levels).
• Ofqual’s results showed a slight fall in the highest grades awarded for applied general qualifications such as BTECs.
• T-levels showed a lower pass rate than last year, and apparently still suffers from high drop-out rates (more than a quarter of T-level students drop out before finishing their qualification).

In lighter news, you can check out the story of twin brothers who took the same A-levels and got exactly the same results.

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