Students’ A-Level results in 2022 have shown a big drop statistically, from the previous years’ teacher-assessed grades.
A-level students this year faced the return to in-person examinations, following two years of teacher-assessed grades. This saw the number of top A-level grades fall sharply, and the attainment gap between the North and the South continue to grow.
A-Level results 2022
This year, in England, under 36% of A-level entries gained A and A* grades, compared with 44.3% last year. Furthermore, last year there were 12,865 students who received three A*s, while this year there were only 8,570.
A-level results this year highlighted the attainment gap between the south and the north. The gap now stands at 8 percentage points between the south and the north-east, compared to 2019 when it was between 4 and 5 percentage points.
Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, said: ‘Students in the north-east are no less capable but, after 12 years of Conservative governments, they’re seeing their results go backwards compared to their peers across the south of England.’
How does this compare to 2021?
Last year, for independent school pupils in England, 70% of A-level results were A* or A, compared with 39% for comprehensive school pupils. Students did not take examinations, meaning that their grades were decided by teachers’ estimates which led to grade inflation.
According to the BBC, the rise in grades in 2021 meant that the proportion of students getting top A-level grades had increased by almost 75% since 2019.
Dr Jo Saxton, chief regulator at Ofqual, said that this year’s results are higher than those of 2019, but lower than those in 2021. Saxton explained that this was due to there being a ‘different method of assessment.’
‘I felt strongly that it would not have been right to go straight back to pre-pandemic grading in one go but accept that we do need to continue to take steps back to normality,’ she said.