Those receiving their GCSE results this week were in their first year of secondary school when the pandemic began in early 2020, with that year and the next hugely disrupted as a result.
Ofqual and the Department for Education have reset their clocks to pre-pandemic grades, but the echoes remain among the results achieved by those from disadvantaged families, and especially those pupils who were unable to gain the grade 4 minimum in English and maths and must now resit those subjects while they remain in education for the next two years.
London continues to outperform the rest of the country, and the north-east still has the lowest level of top grades, though there was a minimal closing of the gap between the two. More worrying, all regions recorded a fall in the rates getting grade 4 or above. The West Midlands, which had the lowest rate in 2023, has fallen the most.
The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has rightly condemned the "unacceptable, entrenched regional disparities we have seen time and time again".
This story is from the August 23, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the August 23, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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