A level exam entries
By subject over the past decade
While total number of school pupils has been in declined over the last decade (1), entries into A level exms has been increasing. With STEM subjects responsible fo much of this growth. While English, languages and History have seen significant decreases
Over the past decade maths and science subjects have increased by:
Maths 28%
Psychology 35%
Biology 21%
Sociology 32%
Physics 32%
Further maths 37%
In comparison over the last ten years English has droppped 42%, for Language and Literature. Modern Language down 17%, (this is just Spanish, French and German) History down 12%.
Art and Geography have been very stable with little change to overall numbers.
Economics up 63% and Business has grown by 50%.
The number of children in the UK is expected to decline by about 7% or 800,000 between 2025 and 2035. However the number of students in further education and sxith form is expoected to rise as the population becomes more educated.
Students are clearly going for STEM subjects that might more directly lead to employment opportunities, with English, History and langugues proving less popular. However, the overall increaase in A level subjects in a declicing population is encouraging.
References
1) https://ifs.org.uk/publications/demographic-change-and-schools-across-uk-lessons-history
2) Office for National Statistics, National population projections: 2022-based (https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/datasets/ppsyoa).
3) 2016-2017 data. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a747b0ce5274a7f99028846/Summer_2017_exam_entries_GCSEs_AS_and_A_levels_in_England.pdf
4) 2018-2019 data. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ce697f4e5274a4879f24ecf/Provisional_entries_for_GCSE__AS_and_A_level_summer_2019_exam_series.pdf
5) 2021-2020 data. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2021-exam-series/provisional-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2021-exam-series
6) 2023-2022 data. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2023-exam-series/provisional-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2023-exam-series
7) 2025-2024 data. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2025-exam-series/provisional-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2025-exam-series
8) 2026 data, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2026-exam-series/provisional-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2026-exam-series
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