Data set from Key stage 4 performance

KS4 subject timeseries data

Not the latest data

Published 20 October 2022

Last updated 20 October 2022

National level time series from 2009/10 to the latest year for entries into individual GCSE subjects broken down by gender and grades received in all schools.

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Data set details

• Theme: School and college outcomes and performance
• Publication: Key stage 4 performance
• Release: Academic year 2021/22
• Geographic levels: National
• Indicators:
  • The number of pupils entering each exam
  • The percentage of pupils achieving the designated grade
• Filters:
  • Gender
  • The grade achieved
  • The subject pupils are entered for
• Time period: 2009/10 to 2021/22

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Data set preview

Table showing first 5 rows, from underlying data

time_period	time_identifier	geographic_level	country_code	country_name	version	gender	subject	entries	grade	percentage_achieving
202122	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	Revised	Boys	All Subjects	2294414	91AstarG	95.8
202122	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	Revised	Girls	All Subjects	2289212	91AstarG	96.5
202122	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	Revised	Total	All Subjects	4583626	91AstarG	96.2
202122	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	Revised	Boys	All Subjects	2294414	94AstarC	71.5
202122	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	Revised	Girls	All Subjects	2289212	94AstarC	78.4

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Variables in this data set

Table showing all 5 variables

Variable name	Variable description
entries	The number of pupils entering each exam
gender	Gender
grade	The grade achieved
percentage_achieving	The percentage of pupils achieving the designated grade
subject	The subject pupils are entered for

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Footnotes

1. Total number of entries include pupils who were absent, whose results are pending and results which are ungraded or unclassified.
2. Some zero percentages may represent small numbers due to rounding.
3. c = a cell that has been suppressed due to low number of pupils. Suppression was applied where deemed necessary for all data up to 2018/19. For 2019/20, DfE suppression policy changed. For 2020 and 2021 results where a geographical area contains only one school (for example Isles of Scilly) the data for that area has been suppressed. This is in line with the announcement that school level data would not be published using either summer 2020 or summer 2021 exam grades awarded. Data is not being supressed in 2022 at local authority or national level.
4. All schools include state-funded schools, independent schools, independent special schools, non-maintained special schools, hospital schools, pupil referral units and alternative provision. Alternative provision includes academy and free school alternative provision. Since September 2013, general further education colleges and sixth-form colleges have been able to directly enrol 14 to 16 year-olds. 2014/15 was the first year in which colleges have pupils at the end of key stage 4. From 2016 onwards, entries and achievements for these pupils are included in figures as state-funded schools.
5. Figures include attempts and achievements by these pupils in previous academic years where only the best grade in each individual subject is counted per pupil. Where subjects have been combined into a group (e.g. Other Modern Languages) and a pupil has two or more entries, each result in each subject is counted.
6. : = When data is unavailable for other reasons
7. Discounting has been applied where pupils have taken the same subject more than once. In 2021/22, with the return of the exam series, we have reintroduced first entry rules for discounting. Further information can be found in the secondary accountability guidance. For more on the discounting methodology prior to 2020, read the Discounting and Early Entry Guidance.
8. z = When an observation is not applicable
9. Since 2014/15, the early entry policy where only a pupil’s first attempt at a qualification is counted in performance measures was extended to all subjects.
10. In 2017, new reformed GCSEs (which use the 9-1 grade scale) were introduced into secondary school performance tables in a phased approach. Unreformed subjects continued to be graded using the A* to G system. Information on how the 9 to 1 scale and the A* to G scale are different and not directly comparable is available in the secondary accountability measures guidance. From 2020 onwards all GCSEs are now reformed and use the 9-1 grading scale.
11. For pupils at the end of KS4 in 2021/22, where pupils achieved qualifications in subjects between January 2020 and August 2021, we will not use results from these qualifications and these results are shown as covid impacted. The entries into the qualifications are still counted. 
12. Some percentages may not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding.

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