While news emerges of a new Covid-19 variant, in the education world, we are also getting a reminder of the ongoing effects of the pandemic. This week, GCSE results were released from the summer 2023 exams. In England, this is the first year since 2019 with pre-pandemic grade boundaries. And understandably, there is plenty of debate about whether this is fair or the right time.
Whatever your view, the return to ‘business as usual’ has brought the ongoing impact of the pandemic on education to the surface. Pre-pandemic, while pass rates were not high enough, results for 16- to 19-year-olds retaking GCSE English or maths in post-16 education were steadily increasing year-on-year. This reflected the ongoing efforts of teachers and leaders in further education to continue to develop effective strategies to support the specific needs of this cohort. But this year, the pass rate has fallen below the pre-pandemic level by 4.8 percentage points in GCSE maths and 4.4 percentage points in GCSE English.
Why would there be such a significant difference in the performance of two year groups, just four years apart? Comparing the results of 2023 and 2019 suggests that taken as a whole, the cohorts of young people moving through secondary and post-16 education are not yet at the level of their peers who sat similar exams four years ago pre-Covid.
