The CBI today congratulated pupils on this year’s GCSE results, with the proportion achieving grades A*-C rising slightly to 69.8%, up from 69% last year.
This year’s figures for those achieving grade A*-C in Maths and English were up on last year. In Maths 58.8% achieved the benchmark, up from 58.4% in 2010, and in English it was 65.4%, up from 64.7%. However, 100,482 students (13%) only achieved a grade F-G in Maths.
Katja Hall, CBI Chief Policy Director, said:
“Congratulations to students and teachers for all their hard work in their GCSEs.
“It’s good to see the proportion achieving a C or above in Maths and English continuing to rise. Being able to show you have good ability in reading, writing and maths is more important than ever and opens the door to work or further study.

“However, too many students are still failing to pass Maths GCSE.
“With the highest number of young people for five years not in education, employment or training, we cannot afford for young people to miss out on basic Maths skills. The Government should ensure that students getting a grade D or below in Maths GCSE retake and achieve this essential standard.”
This year, the proportion of students studying science as separate subjects rose, with numbers taking Physics up by 16.4% to 140,183 entries, Chemistry by 16.2% to 141,724 entries, and Biology by 14.2% to 147,904 entries. However, numbers taking modern foreign languages were down 10% on a year ago.
Ms Hall said:
“We know that studying Biology, Chemistry and Physics as separate subjects is the best foundation for doing science at A-level and beyond. Businesses tell us they can’t find enough people to recruit with science, technology, engineering and maths skills, so we need more young people to study triple science GCSE.
“The CBI is calling for students who get good grades at 14 to be automatically enrolled into studying three individual sciences. This will help plug the skills gap that has opened up – 40% of companies have trouble recruiting people with science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills.”