A Levels 2023: Grade Deflation and Rampant Inequality in the UK

The latest A Level Results in 2023 for England reveal the winners and losers of the government’s return to pre-pandemic grading. While the Ofqual Chief defended the return to lower A Level grade distribution in 2019, there have been calls to apologise to students.

A Levels 2023 has seen nearly 50 000 teenagers scrambling this weekend to find a university place, with the largest number of students ever to be in clearing. Mark Corver, the former head of data at UCAS, told The Times that it has been “exceptionally tough” for A Level students in England. “Disappointment and thwarted aspiration will be widespread this weekend,” he said.

Around 73,000 fewer A*s and As were awarded this year compared with 2022, and the overall pass rate – the proportion of entries graded A* to E – fell to 97.3 per cent to the lowest level since 2008.

The Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, defended the changes as Universities need to be able to properly distinguish between candidates. “It is vital that qualifications hold value so that universities and employers understand the distinction between grades when recruiting, and pupils get the opportunities they deserve”.

However, Schools minister Nick Gibb acknowledged the higher proportion of disadvantaged students in North East England schools. The Chief Regulator of Ofqual, Dr Jo Saxton, told Schools Week that the widening regional attainment gap between the North and South is “uncomfortable”. The north east now has the lowest proportion of A* or A grades (22 per cent).

Criticism of A Levels this year has extended far beyond the UK. In Pakistan, Cambridge University is facing widespread outrage following the publication of AS and A Level results. Political unrest saw exams cancelled after former PM Imran Khan resigned. However, grade calculations sparked student backlash, with the exam board now offering resits without fees as CAIE told Varsity.

The backlash has seen the Liberal Democrats calling for Rishi Sunak to apologise “for his refusal to invest in COVID catch-up programs … no child should be forced out to miss out on a university place because of this Government’s incompetence”, said Munira Wilson MP.