I’ve written several pieces over the last few months on how Key Stage 5 subject choice relates to attainment at GCSE. And there’s still lots to unpick.
As we saw in previous posts, the prior attainment of KS5 students does vary quite a bit by subject. Regular readers will be painfully familiar with the chart below, which has already appeared in several posts.
A-Level further maths students have the highest average Attainment 8 score at 79, and BTEC health studies the lowest at 48.
This means that further maths students achieve the equivalent of a grade 7.9 in each of the qualifications that make up their Attainment 8 score, while health studies students achieve the equivalent of a grade 4.8.
What’s not clear from the chart is why these differences occur. Are high achieving pupils just more likely to want to study subjects like further maths, chemistry and physics than their low attaining peers? Or would pupils with lower prior attainment like to choose those subjects, but aren’t able to because they don’t meet the entry requirements?
Or perhaps the answer is the usual one – a bit of both.
