Planned update with final institution level data in line with Compare School and College Performance (CSCP) update
Updated with data for retention measures
Added section on "Attainment in Multi-academy trusts"
Updated with revised data for the 2023/24 Academic year, including additional sections on "Value added" and "Attainment institution distributions"
Adding links to the provisional 16-18 ready reckoner
This statistical release focuses on the A level and other results of students at the end of 16-18 study in 2023/24 in schools and colleges in England. This revised release includes student characteristic breakdowns such as disadvantage status, Special Educational Needs status and ethnicity.
Comparisons are made to revised data for 2022/23, which was the first year the awarding of grades returned to pre-pandemic standards for GCSEs, AS and A levels and vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs).
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Transition matrices data used for visualising the progress of pupils aged 16 to 18 from key stage 4 (KS4) to key stage 5 (KS5).
Instructions to accompany the transition matrices data
This updated release is based on revised data. Since the release of provisional data in November, amendments to the data have been made by schools and colleges through a ‘checking exercise’.
The checking exercise takes place in the autumn term and gives schools and colleges the opportunity to amend their data. Some students are removed from a school or colleges results, for example because the student wasn’t on roll or has not yet completed 16-18 study. Some students are added where they are flagged by a school or college as having completed 16-18 study despite not being triggered. Changes need to be approved to be included in revised data.
The 2021/22 academic year saw the return of the school and college checking exercise, after it was suspended in the two previous years. In this release, data for 2019/20 and 2020/21 is labelled as ‘final’ data. This is provisional data adjusted for results from the autumn series for AS and A levels. (The autumn series gave students an opportunity to sit an exam if they were unhappy with the grade awarded to them through the alternative process). Data from 2019/20 and 2020/21 did not go through a checking exercise; schools and colleges did not have an opportunity to amend their data as described above.
The large increases from provisional to revised data in the number of applied general and tech level students in 2023/24 reflects data quality issues previously highlighted in provisional data, leading data to be redacted in that version of this statistical release due to incomplete data (where missing data disproportionately were fail or ‘U’ grades).
| Report Year | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Version | revised | final | final | revised | revised | revised | |
| Students at the end of 16-18 study | Number Change | -25,992 | 1,731 | 9,658 | 8,522 | -767 | 22,090 |
| Percentage Change | -4.21% | 0.29% | 2.01% | 1.47% | -0.13% | 3.75% | |
| A level | Number Change | -6,091 | 414 | 399 | -234 | -1,010 | 3,200 |
| Percentage Change | -2.10% | 0.15% | 0.15% | -0.08% | -0.34% | 1.08% | |
| Applied general | Number Change | 3,950 | 435 | 3,952 | 1,421 | -52 | 29,878 |
| Percentage Change | 6.09% | 0.55% | 4.60% | 1.20% | -0.04% | 29.47% | |
| Tech level | Number Change | 17 | 979 | 716 | 1,461 | 47 | 4,788 |
| Percentage Change | 0.09% | 4.46% | 3.54% | 5.40% | 0.17% | 21.22% | |
| Technical certificate | Number Change | -438 | 136 | 47 | 655 | 24 | 5 |
| Percentage Change | -7.60% | 1.58% | 1.42% | 87.45% | 0.63% | 0.06% |
The table below shows the size of the change in the average point score (APS) between the provisional and the revised release. A change of 0.1 pts at A level / applied general / tech level is equivalent to 1/100th of a grade.
| Report year | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| version | revised | final | final | revised | revised | revised |
| A level | 0.24 | 0.13 | 0.06 | 0.10 | 0.13 | 0.05 |
| Applied general | 0.54 | 0.00 | -0.13 | 0.10 | 0.00 | -0.42 |
| Tech level | 0.21 | 0.16 | -0.09 | -0.05 | 0.00 | -0.03 |
| Technical certificate | 0.02 | -0.01 | 0.00 | 0.07 | 0.00 | -0.01 |
This is the second year where grading has returned to pre-pandemic arrangements, with Ofqual’s approach in 2024 being to maintain 2023 standards.
Statistics in this release for 2023/24 include grades received by students as announced on 15 August 2024. The exam grades have been matched to students to enable student level analyses.
Breakdowns of the A/AS level grades achieved in summer 2024 were previously published on results day by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) (opens in a new tab). These statistics were at exam entry level for students of all ages in England and the UK. However, data in this statistical release covers exam entries by 16 to 18 year olds in schools and colleges in England.
T Level outcomes are not included in this statistical release, but provisional results for 2023/24 were published by DfE in August for students who had started a T Level in England in 2022/23.
In addition, Ofqual (opens in a new tab) also routinely publish statistics on results day for students in England.
Performance measures are based on grades awarded throughout a student’s 16-18 study. In 2024, all performance data is based on externally assessed exams.
Comparison data for 2023 excludes results of qualifications awarded between January 2020 and August 2021 through the alternative process to award results during COVID-19, including AS and A level qualifications taken as part of the extraordinary autumn 2021 examination series. This means that where students have taken three years to complete 16-18 study and have also entered a qualification during their first year – the 2020/21 academic year – these results will not count towards 2023 performance measures. Whilst few students enter level 3 qualifications in their first of three years of study, the majority of level 2 technical certificate qualifications were excluded in 2023.
Where time series data is presented, comparisons are made to revised data for previous years (with the exception of 2019/20 and 2020/21 where no checking exercise took place; those data are labelled ‘final’ reflecting the opportunity students unhappy with grades awarded through the CAG and TAG awarding processes had to sit an exam in autumn 2020 (opens in a new tab) and 2021 (opens in a new tab)).
Students are eligible to be included in 16 to 18 performance measures if they are of academic age 16, 17 or 18 at the start of the 2023/24 academic year (31 August 2023) and at the end of their 16-18 studies. They are identified as being at the end of 16-18 study when they first meet at least one of the following criteria:
a) they have entered at least 2 qualifications, each of which is at least the size of an A level, or they have entered at least 1 qualification the size of at least 2 A levels, in the reporting year; OR
b) they have entered for both a T Level core and T Level occupational specialism during 16-18 study OR
c) they are 18 at the start of the reporting year and have not been reported in 16 to 18 performance measures at their current allocated school or college.
Schools or colleges are still able to defer students who meet criteria a) or b) but who are continuing their 16-18 study, as part of the checking exercise, as long as the student has not reached age 18 before the start of the reporting year. Requests for deferred reporting are reflected in ‘revised’ data.
Note, a student eligible for reporting in 16 to 18 performance measures will still also need to meet criteria for each performance measure to be included in that measure. For example, to be included in the average point score per A level entry, the student must have been entered for at least an AS qualification.
Unless stated otherwise, statistics reported here refer to 16 to 18 year olds in England:
- who reached the end of their 16-18 study in 2023/24. Students typically spend either two or three years in the 16 to 18 phase. Usually, attainment includes results from qualifications entered during all those years. However, for data labelled 2022/23 and 2021/22, attainment excludes results from qualifications that were awarded between January 2020 and August 2021.
- who entered qualifications approved for reporting in 2024 school and college performance tables, set out in the 16 to 18 qualifications, discount codes and point scores (opens in a new tab) guidance.
- at state-funded schools and colleges or independent schools in England; more details set out in Annex A of the Methodology.
Qualifications are grouped into A level (subset of Academic), applied general, and tech level exam cohorts at level 3, and technical certificates at level 2. Applied general, tech level and technical certificates are ‘vocational and technical qualifications’ (VTQs). Students can be reported in more than one exam cohort. Further detail on the cohorts is available in 16 to 18 accountability headline measures: technical guide (opens in a new tab).
Compared to 2022/23, the number of students at the end of 16-18 study has increased by 2.8%, however the number of students in the level 3 cohort has grown by 5.4%. This increase is largely driven by the increase in applied general students (6.5%) and A level students (2.4%). Like last year, the size of the tech level cohort has continued to reduce, falling by 2.4%.
The A level cohort, which includes some students who just enter AS levels, continues to grow following an initial decline when A and AS levels were decoupled during A level reform (opens in a new tab).
The increase in the A level cohort size in 2021/22 and 2022/23 coincided with more students getting higher GCSE grades at KS4 two years earlier when students received centre-assessment and teacher assessed grades (CAGs and TAGs). The further increase in the A level cohort in 2023/24 has happened despite lower GCSE attainment in 2021/22.
In 2023/24 the technical certificate cohort (who generally enter the qualification in their first year of their 16 to 18 study) is now similar size to 2019/20. Lower student numbers in 2021/22 and 2022/23 were due to removing grades awarded through CAG/TAG, where the pattern of early entries meant this cohort was more strongly impacted (see section ‘Changes introduced in the 2021/22 release’ of the Methodology).
Disadvantaged status at 16 to 18 is as recorded at the end of Key Stage 4. Pupils are defined as disadvantaged at Key Stage 4 if they are known to have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the past six years (from year 6 to year 11), if they are recorded as having been looked after for at least one day or if they are recorded as having been adopted from care.
Disadvantage measures do not include students who were not reported at the end of KS4 – for example, because they came from overseas. Students who were known to be at independent schools in their last year of KS4 are treated as non-disadvantaged.
Disadvantage measures cover students in state-funded schools or colleges during 16-18 study.
At the end of 16-18 study, 23.3% of state-funded students were recorded as being disadvantaged in 2023/24. Disadvantaged students continue to be overrepresented in the technical certificate cohort and underrepresented in the A level cohort, with 31.4% and 14.1% respectively being disadvantaged.
Prior attainment is a measure of the average points attained per qualification at Key Stage 4. Simple discounting rules apply, with the best result in any subject used when calculating the average point score at KS4. Any GCSE resits or additional qualifications gained during 16 to 18 study are ignored. For the vast majority of students, prior attainment is between 0-9, reflecting the range of possible grades at GCSE (where 9 is the highest grade).
[Note, whilst results from January 2020 to August 2021 are removed from calculation of performance measures, for the purposes of this statistical release they will be retained when calculating a student’s prior attainment to explain outcomes in performance measures, in the same way that outcomes nationally are broken down by sex, disadvantage, etc].
In 2023/24, 19.0% of students at the end of their 16-18 study had the highest prior attainment (grade 7+). This year is the first year the proportion of students with the highest prior attainment has decreased since 2019/20 (when this prior attainment data was introduced). This is expected given the return to exams in 2021/22 when the majority of the cohort will have been at the end of Key stage 4.
The proportion of students with high prior attainment within each level 3 cohort has fallen this year when compared to last year. The A level cohort has the highest proportion of students with high prior attainment, at 36.2%, although the proportion of A level students with the lowest prior attainment (grade 0 to <4) has increased. The technical certificate cohort has the highest proportion of students with low prior attainment (56.9% of the cohort) however this figure has been continuously falling since 2019/20, and is still lower than was seen before the impact of CAGs and TAGs on Key Stage 4 prior attainment.
These figures give the average points and average result that students achieved throughout their 16 to 18 study. Points are given to all qualifications so we can compare qualifications of different size and grading structures. A maximum of 60 points are available for A level, 50 points for applied general and tech level and 8 points for technical certificates.
The concept of qualifications approved for reporting has been applied since 2015/16 following Professor Alison Wolf's Review of Vocational Education (opens in a new tab). From 2017/18 at level 3 and from 2018/19 for technical certificates, the quality threshold for vocational and technical qualifications to be included in performance measures further increased. The later reforms include criteria relating to the size, content, and assessment, including a requirement that a proportion of a qualification's content is subject to external assessment.
More information on points, average point score bands and grade boundaries can be found in the 16 to 18 accountability headline measures: technical guide (opens in a new tab).
The A level average point score per entry (APS) has risen from 35.29 to 35.55 when compared to last year. (NB, for all level 3 qualifications a change in 1pt corresponds to a change of 1/10th of a grade; meaning this slight annual increase in A level attainment of 0.3 pts translates into an increase of just 3/100ths of a grade).
In September 2022, Ofqual announced that 2023 would mark a return to pre-pandemic grading (opens in a new tab), but with some protection against disruption due to the impact of COVID-19. This year the same external assessment standards have been maintained, therefore the rise in A level APS can be interpreted as an increase in the performance of the student cohort rather than a reflection of the grading process.
Across the applied general and tech level cohorts the APS has fallen slightly when compared to last year, both by 0.4pts.
The A level average point score (APS) has increased slightly when compared to last year for most major institution types, except for ‘Other FE sector colleges’ which fell by 0.1pts . The greatest rise was for ‘All independent schools’, with a small increase of 0.5pts compared to last year. Further detail is provided in the table for different types of state-funded schools showing some variation in the size of the increases in A level APS seen this year. Note that data for some institution types is based on small numbers of students.
The largest increase across the four major institution types for the applied general cohort was for ‘All independent schools’ (1.3pts), and the largest increase for the tech level cohort was seen in ‘Sixth form colleges’ (0.8pts).
At regional level, London and the South East have consistently achieved the highest average point scores (APS) within the A level cohort since 2019/20, and that continues to be the case this year. The East Midlands have had the largest drop in A level APS, falling by 0.3pts from last year.
Yorkshire and The Humber, and the South West, have the highest average attainment for the applied general and tech level cohorts this year respectively. For the applied general cohort, the APS has decreased across all regions compared to last year. The largest drop is seen in the North East, with a fall of 0.9pts compared to 2022/23. The APS for the tech level cohort has also declined across most regions apart from the East of England and the West Midlands, which saw rises of 0.4pts and 0.1pts respectively.
These regional aggregations, however, mask much more varied APS at the level of local authorities. For this reason, users should exercise caution when making geographical generalisations.
Disadvantage status at 16-18 is as recorded at the end of Key Stage 4. Pupils are defined as disadvantaged at Key Stage 4 if they are known to have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the past six years (from year 6 to year 11), if they are recorded as having been looked after for at least one day or if they are recorded as having been adopted from care.
Disadvantage measures do not include students who were not reported at the end of KS4 – for example, because they came from overseas. Students who were known to be at independent schools in their last year of KS4 are treated as non-disadvantaged.
Disadvantage measures, and all breakdowns including disadvantage status, cover students in state-funded schools or colleges only.
In 2023/24, the average point scores (APS) for both disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged A level students have increased slightly compared to last year, but have decreased for applied general and tech level students.
The A level cohort has a disadvantage gap of 4.9pts, unchanged from last year. This remains higher than the disadvantage gap reported during the CAG and TAG grading years (2019/20 and 2020/21 respectively). The applied general cohort disadvantage gap is also unchanged from last year at 2.4pts, however the tech level disadvantage gap has widened slightly from 2.7pts last year to 2.9pts this year (NB, this increase in 0.2pts corresponds to the disadvantage gap for tech levels widening by 2/100th of a grade last year).
To get a fuller picture on the impact of disadvantaged status, this data should be looked at in conjunction with data on retention rates (the percentage of students who have completed their main study programme at a provider). In 2022/23, 93.7% of non-disadvantaged A level students were retained and assessed compared to 86.8% of disadvantaged students. Students can only be included in the APS measure if they are entered for examination i.e. if they are retained and assessed. More information on 2022/23 retention can be found in the 2022/23 version of this statistical release. An update to this statistical release with 2023/24 retention figures is expected to be released in March/April 2025.
Within the A level and applied general cohort, female students continue to achieve higher average point scores (APS) compared to male students, as has been the trend for the past five years. For A level students, the gap has remained stable in comparison to last year, with a difference of 1.2pts in favour of females. For applied general students the gap is slightly wider, rising from 2.5pts last year to 2.6pts this year.
For the first time since 2019/20 the attainment gap between female and male tech level students has flipped in favour of male students. However, like the last two years, the gap continues to remain close to zero at 0.3pts in favour of males.
The proportion of male students who are disadvantaged (13.1%) and female students who are disadvantaged (14.8%) is broadly similar at A level.
The disadvantage gap is comparable for female and male A level students (5.0pts and 4.9pts respectively). This is the closest the female and male disadvantage gaps have been in the last 5 years, and is narrower than last year where the disadvantage gaps were 5.1pts and 4.8pts for female and male students respectively.
For applied general and tech level students, the disadvantage gaps for female and male students are lower than for A level students, however for both cohorts the disadvantage gaps are wider for female students than for male students. Within the applied general cohort, the disadvantage gaps are 2.7pts and 2.1pts for female and male students respectively, and for tech level students the disadvantage gaps are 3.5pts and 2.2pts for female and male students respectively.
Ethnicity is as reported at the end of Key Stage 4. Not all student characteristics are reported for students at independent schools; in this case ethnicity is recorded as unknown. This year ethnicity groupings have been harmonised to align with Government Statistical Service (GSS) standards (opens in a new tab) such that the Chinese ethnicity now falls within the Asian or Asian British group.
At A level, most ethnicities had broadly similar attainment except for Black or Black British students, which had an average points score (APS) at least 2.5 points lower than that of any other major ethnic group. White students achieved the highest APS, which was just under 4 points higher than that of Black or Black British students.
The rank order of attainment by ethnicity has remained almost unchanged at A level for the past five years, including through the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes to the grading processes.
Asian or Asian British students achieved the highest APS within the applied general and tech level cohorts (29.6pts and 29.1pts respectively).
At A level, 9.8% of White students, 20.0% of Asian or Asian British students, 21.2% of Mixed Dual background students, 34.5% of ‘any other ethnic group’ students, and 35.7% of Black or Black British students, had disadvantage status. This ordering has remained unchanged for the last four years, and the proportions have been gradually reducing each year across all ethnic groups. The proportion of disadvantaged students will impact on each ethnic group’s overall APS.
Across all level 3 cohorts, non-disadvantaged students attained a higher APS than disadvantaged students across all ethnicity groups.
At A level, the disadvantaged gap is largest for students from the White ethnic group (5.4pts) and smallest for students from the Black or Black British ethnic group (2.1pts). For the Asian or Asian British students, and the Mixed Dual background students, the disadvantage gap has widened slightly this year compared to last year by 0.1pts and 0.2pts respectively. The disadvantage gap for students within the Any other ethnic group and the Black or Black British ethnic group has narrowed by 0.2pts and 0.1pts respectively. The disadvantage gap for White ethnic students has remained the same.
Since 2019/20 (from when this prior attainment data is available) the A level attainment gap between students with the highest and lowest prior attainment had previously remained stable (including throughout different grading processes). This year however, the gap has widened, rising from 25.2pts to 27.0pts (approximately 2.5 grades to just under 2.7 grades).
Note that the number of students in each cohort from each prior attainment band varies between cohorts. At A level, 36.2%, 59.1% and 1.9% of students had a prior attainment of 7+, 4 to 7 and 0 to 4, respectively.
This year, the percentage of the A level cohort with an EHC plan is 0.5%, and the percentage with SEN support is 4.4%. The number of A level students with an EHC plan has remained fairly level in comparison to last year, as has the number of students with no identified SEN, but the number of students with SEN support has grown by 10.8%.
In 2023/24, the A level average points score (APS) has fallen by 0.2pts for students with an EHC plan compared with 2022/23, however the APS has risen by 0.6pts for students with SEN support. Similarly, students with no identified SEN have also seen an increase in APS by 0.2pts.
A level attainment is generally lower for all SEN students compared with the CAG and TAG years of 2019/20 and 2020/21.
Breakdowns of other student characteristics such as first language, free school meals status, and detailed ethnicity and SEN breakdowns, including these broken down further by disadvantage status, are available in the create your own tables sections of this statistical release: Create your own tables, Table Tool – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK (explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk)
This section replaces one that usually describes outcomes in the English and maths progress accountability measures. These are not being created from 2021/22 to 2023/24 in Compare School and College Performance Data (opens in a new tab) due to the impact of excluding CAG and TAG grades on this measure (set out in more detail in the 16 to 18 accountability measures: technical guide (opens in a new tab)).
These results are based on a different methodology to previous years data. They now cover entries and outcomes in below level 3 English and maths qualifications for students at the end of 16 to 18 study, i.e. the same cohort of students eligible for attainment and retention measures. Discounting has also been applied to the major qualification groups, for example, if a student sat two GCSEs in maths and two other level 2 qualifications in maths, the highest outcome from the two GCSEs and the highest outcome from the other level 2 qualifications are reported here.
In combination, the methodology change enables pass rates in GCSE and Functional Skill qualifications to be compared more directly. Previously, data was reported for all exam entries by 16-18 year olds in a given academic year, and comparison was complicated by the different assessment for Functional Skills, where each ‘entry’ possibly reflected multiple assessment attempts.
The new methodology has been applied to the 5 years of below level 3 English and maths data reported in this release.
Most students aged 16 to 18 enter below level 3 English and maths qualifications because they did not achieve a GCSE pass at grade 9-4 or equivalent during key stage 4, and so are required to continue to study those subjects under Condition of Funding rules (opens in a new tab) (CoF).
The number of below level 3 English and maths entries are consistent with last year’s entries but are notably lower compared to 2019/20. The follows more students achieving a 9-4 GCSE pass during KS4 (in particular through CAG and TAG processes to award grades during COVID-19).
The proportion of entries into each qualification group (i.e. GCSE, other level 2 qualification etc.) has also remained consistent between 2022/23 and 2023/24. Many more age 16-18 students enter GCSEs (a level 1/level 2 qualification) than are entered for Functional Skills (the main alternative, with distinct qualifications at level 2, level 1 and Entry level). This is despite level 2 Functional Skills being a pathway out of the CoF for students with a GCSE grade 2 or below and having a higher pass rate than GCSE (at grade 4 or above).
The fall in English and maths pass rates at level 2 in both Functional Skills and GCSE in the last two years mainly reflects the return of pre-pandemic grading standards. But it may also reflect the smaller cohort of students resitting English and maths qualifications following larger numbers already being awarded a grade 9-4 at KS4 through the CAG/TAG awarding processes during COVID-19.
The English GCSE grade 4 or above pass rate continues to be higher than the maths pass rate (42% and 27% respectively). This gap has been widening since 2020/21, where the difference was 6ppts and this year the difference is 15ppts. Similarly the pass rate for L2 Functional Skills is higher for English, the difference with maths widening since 2020/21, from 2ppts in 2020/21 to 9ppts this year.
Disadvantaged students have lower pass rates across GCSE and Functional Skills qualifications
Disadvantaged students are more likely to be in the below level 3 cohort compared with non-disadvantaged students. Entries by disadvantaged students are overrepresented in the below level 3 cohorts, making up approximately 35% of entries despite being only 23.3% of the population of students at the end of 16-18 study.
The pass rate at both GCSE and Functional Skills at level 2 and level 1 are consistently lower for disadvantaged compared with non-disadvantaged students. The greatest difference is in English GCSE 9-4 where the non-disadvantaged pass rate is 15ppts higher than the disadvantaged pass rate. Although maths GCSE 9-4 pass rates are lower than English, the disadvantage gap for maths is smaller (10ppts).
The cohort of entries into below level 3 English and maths by ethnicity major groups is mostly representative of the overall cohort of students at the end of 16-18 study, with about 10% Asian or Asian British, 6% Black or Black British, 5% Mixed Dual background, 57% White and 2% Any other ethnic group. The exception is the White ethnic group which has a lower proportion in the below level 3 English and maths cohort.
The White ethnicity major group has the lowest pass rate in GCSE 9-4 but the highest pass rate in Level 2 Functional Skills. Conversely, Asian or Asian British has the highest GCSE 9-4 pass rate but the second lowest Level 2 Functional Skills pass rate (Any other ethnic group has the lowest).
Most entries in below level 3 English and maths qualifications are at ‘Other FE sector colleges’. For context, the number of students at the end of 16-18 study in ‘Other FE sector colleges’ is broadly comparable to the number in all state-funded schools.
‘Other FE sector’ colleges have the lowest pass rate for GCSE 9-4 in both English and maths whereas independent schools had the highest pass rate. However, ‘Other FE sector’ colleges did have the highest pass rate in English and maths level 2 Functional Skills compared with all state-funded schools, sixth form colleges and independent schools. Most entries in level 2 Functional Skills are in ‘Other FE sector’ colleges.
The 16 to 18 value added measure is based on the progress students make between key stage 4 and the end of 16-18 study, compared with the progress made by students nationally who have the same level of prior attainment at the end of secondary education (key stage 4).
To be included in value added measures a student must:
- have results at the end of key stage 4
- have entered an academic, applied general, or tech level qualification
As with attainment measures, value added measures are produced separately for qualifications grouped into exam cohort (i.e. academic, applied general). The value added score is expressed as a proportion of a grade above or below the national average, for example a score of +0.5 shows that students achieved half a grade higher than the national average for those with similar starting points.
This is the first time we have been able to produce value added measures since 2018/19, due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is also the first time we will publish value added measures for the Tech Level cohort.
Note, outcomes from KS4 qualifications achieved between January 2020 and August 2021 are excluded when calculating a student's prior attainment for the 16 to 18 value added measures (i.e. results from the alternative arrangements to award grades during the COVID-19 pandemic). Students are included in the 16 to 18 value added measures if they have at least one outcome from KS4 qualifications achieved in the 2021/22 academic year or later. This means that students included in value added measures in 2023/24 exclude students who spent 3 years in 16-18 study (i.e. completed KS4 in 2020/21).
Based on value added scores, male students outperformed females in A levels, but the opposite is true for applied general and tech level qualifications.
Across all level 3 cohorts, disadvantaged students had lower value added scores than non-disadvantaged students.
Students with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) had higher value scores than students with SEN support or with no identified SEN across all level 3 cohorts.
For A levels, independent schools have the highest value added score (0.20), whilst FE colleges and University Technical Colleges (UTCs) the lowest (-0.26 and -0.35 respectively).
For applied general sixth form colleges (0.20) and Free schools 16-19 (0.24) had the highest scores, with FE colleges the lowest (-0.25).
For tech levels Free Schools, independent school, and sixth form colleges scored highest (though note data is based on relatively few exam entries) and FE colleges the lowest.
This section focuses on the attainment and progress (value added) of students who attended schools that were in multi-academy trusts (MATs) in England. Further information on MATs can be found in the equivalent Key stage 2 attainment and Key stage 4 performance statistical releases.
Multi-academy trusts (MATs) can comprise converter academies, sponsored academies, free schools, studio schools, and/or university technical colleges (UTCs):
Due to the different historic performance of schools that become sponsored or converter academies and those which remain LA maintained, simple comparisons between the whole MAT sector and other state-funded schools and colleges will not be meaningful and are not made in this publication.
Further, caution should be taken when comparing national MAT statistics across years as the composition of the academies and MATs included continues to vary, as the sector matures.
The measures cover state-funded mainstream schools and colleges within MATs only. Special schools, pupil referral units, alternative provision academies and alternative provision free schools are not included.
In MAT performance tables data, accountability measures are only produced at 16 to 18 for MATs:
We do this so that we include data for MATs that are sufficiently well established to have had time to a) have an impact on the performance of schools within the MAT and b) so that aggregate data tells you more than the individual institution data would.
Users need to exercise caution when considering comparisons over time. This is due to the changes in approach to grading between 2022 and 2023. It is expected that performance in 2023 will generally be lower than in 2022. In 2022 outcomes broadly reflected a mid-point midpoint between 2019 and 2021, to take account of the impact of the pandemic and in line with Ofqual’s approach to grading in 2022.
Performance tables data for eligible MATs can be found here at the Compare school and college performance website (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab).
The commentary in this section focuses on students in academies that meet the eligibility criteria for MAT performance tables, but note a table is also provided that summarises data for ineligible academies in MATs, as well as all academies in MATs for wider context.
The data below shows that for academies meeting the eligibility criteria:
The academic qualification average point scale is 0-60, applied general is 0-50; within each cohort a difference of 1pt corresponds to 1/10th of a grade.
As a relative measure, the value added for an exam cohort is 0 when combining results from all schools and colleges in England. A difference of 1 in value added data corresponds to difference of 1 grade.
These data are available through the ‘Explore data and files used in this release’ section in the files called ‘Time series – APS entry by institution type’ and ‘Time series – A level subject entries and grade by sex.
In addition, all the data is accessible through the dashboard linked below. The dashboard combines revised data for 2023/24 from this statistical release with selected historical data compiled from previous versions of the ‘A level and other 16 to 18 results’ statistical release:
16-18 Time-series attainment and single year entries (opens in a new tab)
The transition matrices (TM) are available through the dashboard 16-18 Transition Matrices (opens in a new tab) and in the ‘Additional supporting files' section of this release, along with instructions for their use.
Transition matrices are a useful tool to help visualise the progression from different groups of attainment at key stage 4 (KS4) to outcomes achieved during 16 to 18 for a range of different subjects.
The ready reckoner (RR) is available through the dashboard 16-18 Ready Reckoner (opens in a new tab).
The 16-18 ready reckoner is a tool that can be used to both understand the value added model better, and to manipulate student data and inform target setting.
Individual institution level APS per entry attainment data (as seen in performance tables (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab)) can be collated to produce an institution distribution histogram. This helps form an overall impression on both the range, and the most common, APS per entry scores for each exam cohort.
For the A level and applied general, the institution distribution is very similar for 2023/24 and 2022/23; as expected in 2021/22 the overall distribution is shifted to the right (reflecting approach to grading for 2021/22 exams broadly reflected a midpoint between results in 2018/19 (pre-Covid) and 2021 (teacher assessed grades).
A similar pattern exists in the institution distribution for tech levels, albeit slightly bimodal. The peaks broadly correspond to the points associated with Merit and Distinction average results.
The retention measure shows the percentage of students who are retained to the end of the ‘core aim’ (or main learning aim) of their study programme at a school or college.
Students are counted as retained if they are recorded as having “completed the learning activities leading to the learning aim” by their institution. This information is collected in the school census (opens in a new tab) or for students that attended sixth form or FE colleges, the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) (opens in a new tab).
Retention measures are not calculated for independent schools or special schools (both independent and maintained) as learning aims data is not available for these schools.
The retention measure is calculated by dividing the total number of students retained by the total number of students with a core aim, in each of the five programmes approved for reporting in performance tables: academic, A level, applied general, tech level, and at level 2, technical certificate programmes.
Since academic programmes comprise largely of A levels, only data for A level core aims are described here; overall data for academic programmes can be found in the ‘create your own tables’ section and in the underlying data available to download.
Alongside the headline Retention measure there are two supporting retention measures:
Retained and assessed: The percentage of students who are retained to the end of their course and are assessed.
Returned and retained for a second year: The percentage of level 3 students who return to the same provider and complete their programme of study in their second year. (The main difference when compared to retention is for students who complete their core aim in one year.)
A fuller description of the methodology underlying retention measures can be found in the 16 to 18 technical guide (opens in a new tab).
Unlike attainment measures, retention measures did not need adaptations to the methodology as they are not based on results data (meaning all exam entries are considered in the retained and assessed measure, irrespective of whether the result attached to the exam entry was awarded through the CAG or TAG processes; this is a difference from adapted attainment measures for 2023/24 where both exam entries and results awarded from January 2020 to August 2021 were excluded from calculations).
However, changes to teaching and assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected retention measures in other ways. For example, when schools and colleges closed for most students at the end of March 2020, students may have been recorded as completing their learning aim when they may have not finished their course had it continued to the end of the 2019/20 academic year. Another example is that students were only assessed on the content they had been taught in 2020/21, hence may have been recorded as retained and assessed when just part of the syllabus had been delivered.
The retention rates across all level 3 study programmes have fallen in 2023/24 when compared to 2022/23, continuing the trend of decreasing retention rates observed last year. Applied general and tech level retention rates are now at their lowest since the retention measure was introduced in 2015/16. Falling retention rates in 2023/24 may be linked to the previously observed increase in the number of students entering level 3 qualifications in 2021/22 and 2022/23, having received higher CAG and TAG GCSE grades earlier at Key Stage 4 in 2019/20 and 2020/21. Students unable to complete their level 3 courses will tend to be flagged as being at the end of 16-18 study after 3 years, i.e. if students with TAG GCSE grades are less likely to be retained in level 3 courses, the impact on retention rates will be observed this year.
A level programmes continue to have the highest retention rates, as has been the case since 2015/16, when the measure was introduced. Applied general programmes have the lowest level 3 retention rates, which has been the general trend for the past five years with the notable exception of 2021/22.
Technical certificate programmes continue to have a lower retention rate than the level 3 programmes. They have also seen a fall in retention rate in 2023/24 when compared to last year.
The comparison of trends within the retention and supporting retention measures show they each follow similar trends to one another within the A level and applied general programmes.
The retention trends for tech level programmes look less consistent between sub-measures. In recent years the gap between the retention rate and the retained and assessed rate has continued to widen, suggesting an increase in the proportion of students not being assessed at the end of their course.
The much smaller technical certificate cohort (Level 2) was heavily impacted by the trigger change in 2020/21 and shows less stable trends. In addition, the low cohort numbers mean that breakdowns of the technical certificate data by student characteristics become increasingly unreliable, and therefore this cohort isn’t discussed further.
Due to the similarity in the trends shown by the three retention measures, in particular for the two largest cohorts (A level and applied general), our further narrative will mostly focus on the retained and assessed measure. Further breakdowns of the retention measure and the returned and retained measure across all qualification cohorts are available in underlying data and through the table builder.
The retained and assessed rate is higher for non-disadvantaged students across all level 3 cohorts. Disadvantaged tech level students are the least likely to be retained and assessed at 67.0%, which is 9.3ppts lower than their non-disadvantaged peers.
The disadvantage gap is at its widest in the last 5 years across all level 3 programmes. The applied general cohort has the largest disadvantage gap and the largest widening in comparison to last year, increasing from 7.4ppts last year to 9.6ppts this year. The A level cohort disadvantage gap has risen from 6.9ppts to 7.9ppts and the tech level cohort had the smallest increase rising from 8.5ppts to 9.3ppts.
The coverage of the retention measures is different to the attainment measures and is described above in ‘Retention: introduction and changes to the data in 2023/24’. The largest difference is that independent schools are excluded from the data, and this impacts the distribution of the prior attainment groups as students from independent schools have higher prior attainment on average.
The distribution of prior attainment has changed over time for all cohorts. The proportion of A level students with low prior attainment (from grade 0 up to grade 4) has decreased from 3.7% of the cohort in 2019/20 to 1.6% in 2023/24. High prior attaining students (average grade 7 or more) have increased their proportion of the cohort from 23.5% in 2019/20 to 35.6% in 2023/24.
This 5-year trend partly reflects the KS4 assessment process. Most A level students at the end of 16-18 study in will have completed KS4 two years prior. This year, students included in the retention measures were likely entered for GCSE in 2021/22 which was the midpoint year for grades returning to pre-pandemic levels. This is mirrored by the fall in the proportion of high attaining A level students by 3.6ppts when compared to last year, whilst still remaining slightly higher than 2021/22.
A similar shift in distribution can be seen in the vocational and technical cohorts.
Overall, students with the highest average prior attainment (grade 7+) are most likely to be retained and assessed in their main programme of study and students with the lowest prior attainment (grade 0 up to grade 4) are the least likely to be retained and assessed. The highest retained and assessed rate at level 3 is for high prior attaining A level students (97.0%), whereas the lowest retained and assessed rate is for low prior attaining tech level students (63.7%).
The retained and assessed rate for high prior attaining students has fallen across all level 3 cohorts in comparison to last year, and is at its lowest for each cohort in the last 5 years. For A level students the rate is now lower than that reported in 2019/20 by 1.3ppts, and by 1.7ppts and 2.0ppts for applied general and tech level students respectively.
A full breakdown of all three retention measures by a range of other student characteristics is available through the View and create your own tables tool. In the following section, we draw attention to a small number of breakdowns that may be of interest.
Both female and male students across all level 3 cohorts have seen a decrease in the retained and assessed rates compared to last year. The smallest decreases were in the A level cohort, with falls of 1.4ppts and 0.8ppts in the retained and assessed measure for female and male students respectively. The largest decreases were in the tech level cohort (3.4ppts, female, and 2.6ppts, males).
For applied general students, the female and male retained and assessed rates are roughly equal. At A level, the gap between female and male retained and assessed rates has widened slightly to 0.5ppts in favour of male students (a reversal from last year, where female A level students were higher). For tech level students, the gap has narrowed from 2.8ppts to 2.0ppts in favour of female students.
Compared to last year, the retained and assessed rates for students with an EHC plan or SEN support have fallen within each level 3 exam cohort except for EHC plan tech level students (which saw a rise of 0.9ppts). This year, students with SEN support achieved a higher retained and assessed rate than students with an EHC plan in the A level cohort, but the inverse is true for the applied general and tech level cohorts.
State-funded mainstream schools, Sixth form colleges, and ‘Other FE sector colleges’ have all seen a fall in the retained and assessed rates across all level 3 programmes.
Sixth form colleges continue to report the highest retained and assessed rates for the vocational and technical qualifications, whereas state-funded mainstream schools report the highest rates for the A level cohort. ‘Other FE sector colleges’ have the lowest retained and assessed rates across all level 3 cohorts.
For A level and applied general, the largest decline compared to last year was for ‘Other FE sector colleges’, falling by 3.3ppts and 3.6ppts respectively. For tech level it is for Sixth form colleges, falling by 3.2ppts.
Across each exam cohort, the retained and assessed rates for each major institution type are at their lowest in the last four years.
Individual institution level retained and assessed rates (as seen in performance tables (opens in a new tab)) can be collated to produce an institution distribution histogram. This helps form an overall impression on both the range, and the most common, retained and assessed rates achieved for each exam cohort.
For the A level cohort, most institutions achieve high retained and assessed rates and the peak is relatively narrow. For applied general and tech level the peak is wider, although the metric remains skewed to higher percentages.
In comparison to other years, the shape of the distribution for each of the level 3 exam cohorts has remained relatively consistent, however the position of the peak has shifted left. This shows that the most common retained and assessed percentage is lower than in previous years, matching the trends observed in the national data.
Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.
These accredited official statistics have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
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