SaveMyExams surveyed 1,000 UK students, uncovering that 8 in 10 have felt the pressure of exam anxiety. While many students face this emotional burden, only a small proportion are seeking help to manage it. The data reveals that just 14% of students receive exam revision support from their parents, while a significant 7 in 10 choose not to seek help at all.

In response to these concerning findings, SaveMyExams has launched a unique ‘Exam Anxiety Relief Kit’. This comprehensive kit equips students with a variety of practical tools designed to help manage stress and anxiety during revision and exam periods.

The survey’s findings align with the aims of Children’s Mental Health Week, which seeks to encourage conversations about mental health, raise awareness, and reduce stigma. The research clearly demonstrates that exam stress is rapidly becoming a significant mental health concern. An overwhelming 85% of students reported experiencing exam anxiety, with one third admitting that anxiety is a constant presence in their lives.

A quarter of teenagers also revealed that their anxiety levels were above an 8 on a scale from 1 (very calm) to 10 (unmanageable anxiety). These figures underline the urgent need for enhanced support and increased awareness of the mental health impact caused by exam pressures.

Only 14% of students reported receiving exam revision support from their parents, while a staggering 71% admitted to suffering in silence, choosing not to seek any help to manage their anxiety. Among the 29% who did seek support, half revealed that talking to friends was their primary method for relieving exam anxiety. Meanwhile, 20% turned to physical exercise as a coping strategy. Almost 30% of teenagers also shared that they had started using breathing exercises or meditation to combat their anxiety during the exam period.

Constance Mantle, CEO at SaveMyExams, comments on how children can use educational tools when revising to help relieve exam anxiety: “Children’s Mental Health Week is the perfect time to highlight the need for greater support. The fact that so many teens are experiencing exam anxiety is worrying. We know that anxiety can impair cognitive functions like memory retrieval and problem-solving, which directly impacts exam performance. This can have serious negative consequences on students’ future ambitions, but more significantly their mental health.“

Triumphant students obtained their results from the multi-award-winning school this morning, which revealed an impressive 84% pass rate with 25% graded 7-9. This represents an increase of 16% on the number of students passing compared to pre-pandemic results.

The Principal of DLD College London, Irfan Latif, commented: “We are incredibly proud of our students for their achievements. This year’s results are highly impressive; the dedication and diligence from our students is evident, in addition to the commitment from our devoted staff members.

“At DLD College London we are committed to delivering a high standard of education, while also ensuring that we help each student to build their confidence within a supportive and inspiring setting. We are assured that our students will continue to grow within themselves and progress academically towards a promising future, with many of them continuing their studies here at DLD.”

Overall, 79% of 18-year-old pupils in the UK receiving a decision today have gained a place at their first choice university.

16, 530 students who received free school meals (FSM) have also gained a place at university which is a 60% increase from 2019.

In a sign that grading is returning to normal, this year, 27.2% of UK entries for A levels achieved a grade A and above, slightly higher than 25.4% in 2019, before the pandemic. 76% of UK entries achieved a grade C and above, in line with 75.9% in 2019.

This year has seen Mathematics continue to be the most popular A Level since 2014 as well as record-breaking numbers of A Level entries in Computing, producing over 16% more entries than last year. The data from this year’s results day show 34.8% of entries from free schools and 25.4% of entries from academies getting a grade A or above – compared to 22.0% of entries from Local Authority maintained comprehensive schools.

Around 3,400 T Level students received their results today as the second ever cohort completed the new, high quality technical qualification. 90.5% of T Level students achieved a Pass or above.

T Levels offer a wide range of progression options as many of these students will also go on to do apprenticeships, and UCAS has today revealed that 1,220 T Level students have been accepted into university, demonstrating the value and reputation of these qualifications.

Over 250,000 certificates were awarded for those completing their Level 3 vocational and technical qualifications.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said:

“Congratulations to everyone receiving results today. There are more opportunities than ever before so whatever your results, I’m sure you will have a bright future ahead of you.

“It’s fantastic to see the number of young people accepted to university – including to their first choice – continue to be up on the years before the pandemic, while thousands more go off to exciting apprenticeships and the world of work.

“As always, there are a wide range of fantastic options for those who did not get the results they hoped for, and students can find out more by visiting the UCAS website or through the National Careers Service.”

If students have not received the grades they were hoping for, there are thousands of high-quality courses available through Clearing. This morning there were nearly 29,000 courses available, many of which are at the most selective universities. Clearing opportunities can be accessed through this link: https://www.ucas.com/clearing-launch

For those who do not wish to go through Clearing, students can call the National Careers Service on 0800 100 900 for advice on their next steps.

There are also options available other than university. Apprenticeships offer people of all ages and backgrounds the chance to gain the skills they need to build successful careers, while making sure employers can access the skilled workforce they and our economy need to grow.

For more information and to explore all the other exciting options available to young people go to: Get the Jump: explore your education and training choices | National Careers Service

Almost £5 billion has been made available to help pupils to recover from the impact of the pandemic, including over £1.5 billion for the National Tutoring Programme and 16-19 Tuition Fund, which have supported millions of students in need of extra support. Nearly four million tutoring courses have now been started through the National Tutoring Programme, including over 1.3 million so far this academic year.

The reformed qualification from leading awarding body Pearson Edexcel, has been developed in close partnership with schools, language experts and multilinguists to reduce the continued decline in language uptake at GCSE and A level.

Paving the way for updates to Pearson’s language GCSEs in German and Spanish, the new French qualification (for first assessment in 2026), is specifically designed to be more inclusive and accessible to students, with real-world content that reflects and represents the diverse backgrounds, experiences and abilities of young learners today.

The student-centred specification will encourage all pupils to develop their language skills by combining clear, concise and straightforward assessments with engaging, meaningful and relatable content. Key features include:

● Engaging and inclusive contemporary topics that enable students to speak and write about the things that interest them including equality, physical and mental wellbeing, the environment, social media and gaming.
● Content and assessments based on familiar experiences or pre-known settings in the target language culture, with no expectation that students travel abroad for their holidays.
● Extending existing knowledge on familiar concepts i.e. friendships, food and drink, school, shopping, and relevant travel.
● Content and assessment that broadens cultural knowledge, with supporting images or glossing to ensure no barriers to shared understanding.

Ofqual’s approval follows the release of recent findings that show more than three-quarters (73%) of UK adults who speak just one language wish they could speak another, while more than half of monolinguists (54%) have faced difficulties in life as a result of not being able to do so. At the same time, almost half of all UK adults (45%) think it is more important to speak another language today than it was 20 years ago[1] and yet, the number of learners choosing to study a language at GCSE and A level continues to decline.

When respondents to this Pearson research were asked what would most encourage young people to study a language today, the top five responses were: showcasing the benefits to their future lives, making the subject more interesting, learning about different cultures and lifestyles as well as vocabulary, making content more relevant to young people’s lives and more accessible – all features of the new Edexcel French qualification.

Speaking about today’s announcement, Katy Lewis, Head of MFL at Pearson, said: “Ofqual’s approval of this new French GCSE marks a significant shift in language learning for students. We want to eradicate perceptions that learning languages is too hard or only for a certain type of student, and this inclusive, real-world set of language GCSEs can help us do just that.

“Having trialled our draft French, German and Spanish specifications with over 800 students of all abilities, across a wide range of schools, we believe that we have developed meaningful qualifications that are fit for the future. We are proud of the ethos behind the new GCSEs and we look forward to helping a new cohort of students connect, communicate and understand new cultures in our increasingly diverse world.”

Teachers reviewing the specification referred to the changes as “encouraging,” “considered and thoughtful” and a “great relief for both teachers and students” with hopes that as a result, they “should be able to increase the number of students taking languages at GCSE and beyond.”

For more information about the new language GCSE specifications, along with Pearson’s nationwide More than words campaign, visit go.pearson.com/MFLGCSE24

The research, which aims to examine the lack of female representation and voice in English Literature, found that An Inspector Calls and A Christmas Carol were the two most taught texts, which were studied at 80% and 72% respectively at GCSE level (Year 10 & 11). Both of which are in the top texts taught at KS3 meaning that many pupils are taught the same texts twice between Years 7 and 11. Data was collected from three out of four awarding bodies; Pearson Edexcel, the second largest awarding body, who stated they could not provide us with an analysis of their statistics by the gender of the author.

Within these texts the female characters are either victims or servants, which leaves little to offer in terms of representation of women. While these can lead to important discussions it would be more valuable to students to also have discussions around positive representations of women. Only ever having the opportunity to discuss women as victims of misogyny perpetuates a narrative of women as victims of a patriarchal society, reinforcing the notion of sexual inequality as an expected norm.

Of the female authored books on the approved text list, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice were the most common inclusions, however both are the longest novels on the lists, 624 and 448 pages respectively. This makes it harder for teachers to justify their selection over the shorter male authored texts. The result is that female authored texts are not equally matched in terms of teachability and accessibility to the male authored choices, immediately putting them at a disadvantage.

While authorship is of importance there is also a large discrepancy between the number of female protagonists compared to that of male, and after all, it is the characters and not the authors that pupils will spend most time discussing in lessons. On the set lists 7 in 10 texts for both 19th Century novel and for Modern Prose and Drama have a male protagonist, showing a bias towards the teaching of texts with a male protagonist.

By only providing the option for pupils to engage with male perspectives on the world in the literature they read, not only do boys never learn to empathise with and appreciate the viewpoints and experiences of women, but they also get the clear message that women’s voices and perspectives are less important and less valid.

While work in recent years has been done to increase diversity, often this is implemented with a two birds one stone approach with new additions added to the approved text list by female authors of colour. While this is a great first step, it often involves swapping out less studied texts for new novels meaning few schools will be inclined to change the status quo. The message is clear; the supremacy of white male writing cannot be challenged. The core canon of white male authors is not being changed, and by combining gender and race, it disproportionately affects the representation of white female authors and male authors of colour, who have been all but erased from the modern prose and drama paper.

Rachel Fenn, Founding Member of ESIS & English teacher comments: “While these stats are shocking, they are hardly surprising. The traditional canon of English Literature has always valued the white male voice over others since its creation in the early twentieth century. However, for the next generation to grow up challenging a patriarchal view of the world, both boys and girls need to be exposed to strong and empowering representations of women, not the voiceless victims and servants we see repeatedly in the perennially popular texts taught in English lessons. We are what we read – is it any wonder how Andrew Tate has managed to infiltrate the schooling system and violence against women remains such an endemic problem in our society when our academic curriculum spins this narrative in every lesson?

While improving PSHE offered in schools is a step in the right direction to improve equality and address sexism, it fails to tackle the underlying systems which perpetuate the ideology that women are less than and their voices are not worth being heard. This is why ESIS is striving so hard to push examining bodies to ensure an equal balance of male and female authored texts and protagonists, and provide schools with meaningful practical support to help them change the texts they teach. We’ve had enough of virtue signalling and platitudes; we want action, and we want it now.’

You can read the research in full and explore ways to get involved on the End Sexism In Schools website: https://endsexisminschools.org.uk/

Nearly 180,000 18-year-old students in England have had their place at their first choice of university confirmed. This is the largest number ever on record for an examination year, a 20% increase on 2019, when exams were last sat.

Overall, 425,830 students of all ages and domiciles will be going onto university, including a record number of 18-year-olds from a disadvantaged background for an examination year. The gap between the most and least advantaged progressing to university has narrowed to a record low (from 2.29 in 2019 to 2.26 in 2022, and from 2.32 in 2021.)

The first cohort of T level students received their results today, with over 92% achieving a pass or above. Many have already secured their first job or an apprenticeship in areas like mechanics and digital product design, and 370 students, 71% of those who applied, have so far been placed onto a university course, demonstrating the flexibility and appeal of these courses.

This is the first year that students have taken summer exams since 2019. As part of the Ofqual transition period back to pre-pandemic grades, AS, A level and Vocational and Technical Qualification results received today will be higher than in 2019 in recognition of the disruption students experienced during their exam years.

Exams were taken with support and adaptions in place, including advance information of topics for A levels, and longer assessment windows for vocational and technical qualifications.

Grades will be lower than 2021 when exams did not go ahead and grades were determined by teachers, as schools and colleges remained closed to most pupils until March.

36% of entries for A levels are at grade A or above in the UK – up from 25% in 2019, and down from 45% in 2021, reflecting the target set out last autumn.

Statistics published today also show:

• 83% of entries for A levels are at grade C or above – up from 76% in 2019, and down from 89% in 2021, reflecting the target set out last autumn.
• The gap between the proportion of top grades (A*, A and above and B and above) in independent schools and academies in England has narrowed compared to 2021.
• 92.2% of T Level students in receipt of results this year achieved a Pass or above, with 31.9% achieving a Distinction and 2.7% a Distinction*.
• Over 240,000 certificates awarded to a wide range of students who have undertaken Level 3 vocational and technical qualifications used for progression in a similar way to A levels, with results broadly similar to previous years.
• 87.7% of undergraduates for this year at UK universities are from the UK compared to 12.3% of international students. This compares to 14.7% of international students in 2019.

Education Secretary James Cleverly said: “I want to congratulate students getting their results today and say a big thank you to the teachers who helped them get to this point. These students have experienced unprecedented disruption over the last couple of years, and such excellent results are a testament to their resilience and hard work.

“Our plan this year was to ensure that students could sit their exams for the first time since 2019, be graded fairly and move on to the next stage of their lives as we return to normality after the pandemic.

“We have now seen the largest number of students on record for an examination year – including a record 23,220 of disadvantaged 18-year-olds – going on to university, while many others will take their next steps in further training or the world of work.

“Regardless of what those next steps are, I wish all students the very best on this exciting new chapter in their lives.”

179,690 18-year-olds in England gained their first choice of university place, 21,670 their insurance. This compares to 149,670 getting their firm choice and 19,300 getting their insurance choice in 2019.

The Government has been working with the higher education sector to ensure that universities have been making offers that reflect the grades students have received today.

Universities have been encouraged to be flexible in their decision-making on admissions for students who narrowly miss their grades or terms of their offer and they have a wealth of experience supporting young people throughout the application process, including through the changing circumstances with recent results cycles.

Medicine and Dentistry are hugely competitive courses, and consistently have far more applicants than there are places available. Despite more cautious offer making this year so universities can avoid oversubscription, the government expects all places on these courses to be filled for 2022/23.

For those students going onto higher education in September from the lowest-income households, on top of the standard cost of living support package, the Government has continued to increase support for living costs on an annual basis. This means that these students now have access to the largest ever amounts in cash terms. The Government also asked the Office for Students to protect the £256 million available to support disadvantaged students and those in the need for the current financial year.

If students have not received the grades they were hoping for, a record number of places are available through UCAS, as well as a range of high quality vocational and technical options. Students can call the National Careers Service on 0371 468 0468 for advice on their next steps.

To help future students recover from the impact of the pandemic the Government has invested nearly £5 billion including £1.5 billion for the National Tutoring Programme. Over two million courses have now started through the National Tutoring Programme, including 1.8 million so far this academic year across an estimated 80% of schools.

The Department for Education and Ofqual will evaluate the arrangements this year, before finalising 2023 arrangements as early as possible in autumn. The intention is to return to the carefully designed and well-established pre-pandemic exam arrangements as quickly as possible, given they are the best and fairest way of assessing what students know and can do.

Analysis by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT found that entries in England to take Computer Science A level were up by nearly 18% on last year.

Though there are many routes to a tech career, BCS said the subject’s growing popularity was important to the pipeline of talent working in areas like digital health and climate change.

BCS’ study of Ofqual’s provisional data shows that 15,210 students are sitting Computer Science A Level in England this year, up from 12,930 in 2021. This rise of 17.6% is the largest increase of any A Level subject.

It is the highest number of entrants in England ever and a 57% increase over the last five years, BCS, the professional body for information technology, added.

Demand for computer science is rising across higher education too, with BCS’ analysis earlier this year showing applications to study computer science degrees also rising by 13% – the biggest increase of any UK university subject.

Dr Bill Mitchell OBE, Director of Policy at BCS, said: “An A-level in Computer Science helps to develop the thinking skills needed to solve the big challenges facing society, whether that’s in healthcare, climate change, or the digital divide.

“Thanks to initiatives like the National Centre for Computing Education, we’ve got the highest number ever of students ever taking A-level Computer Science, which is excellent for these students and excellent for the rest of us who’ll benefit when they take those advanced skills into their further education and their jobs.”

BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, is one of the three consortium partners which run the NCCE, alongside the Raspberry Pi Foundation and STEM Learning. The NCCE is funded by the Department for Education and delivers training and resources with the aim of enabling every child in every school in England to have a world-leading computing education.

Entries to GCSE Computing have also steadily increased over the last five years, showing a 9% increase over the last five years, with 79,135 students entering GCSE computing in 2022, up from 72,360 in 2018.

Following a public consultation, the Department for Education has confirmed changes to French, German and Spanish GCSEs, supported by a research review by Ofsted, to help students build confidence and excel in learning languages.

In the updated GCSEs, students will be assessed on the most common vocabulary used in conversations and writing, as well as grammar and pronunciation, increasing clarity for teachers and improving the practical benefits for students.

Research shows that a focus on these ‘building blocks’ enables students to more clearly see progress in their ability to understand and use the language, and in turn grow in confidence and motivation.

The changes aim to fulfil the government’s ambition for 90% of Year 10 pupils to study EBacc subjects for GCSE by September 2025. So far, over 95% of students have been entered for GCSE English, maths and science and over 80% in humanities subjects, and the government wants to increase the number of students studying language GCSEs too.

The consultation was based on recommendations from an expert panel chaired by Ian Bauckham and received 1,644 responses, with the majority from language teachers agreeing with the proposals. The plans for the new French, German and Spanish GCSEs reflect sector feedback, giving exam boards an additional year to develop them.

Schools Minister Robin Walker said: “Studying languages opens up a world of new, exciting opportunities for people and is hugely important for a modern global economy.

“That’s why we want more young people to take up modern language GCSEs, and these evidence-based changes aim to do just that – making these qualifications more well-rounded and accessible, and helping more young people to enjoy learning languages.”

The revised GCSEs will start to be taught in September 2024, with first exams being held in 2026. The changes to the language GCSEs include:

• Students will be assessed on the basis of 1,200 ‘word families’ at foundation tier GCSE and 1,700 ‘word families’ in higher tier GCSE
• An example of a word family could be ‘manage’, ‘managed’ and ‘manages’. Exam boards will select topics and themes to inform the selection of key vocabulary, as opposed being prescribed in the subject content
• At least 85 per cent of the ‘word families’ will be selected from the 2,000 most frequently occurring words in a language to make sure students have a good knowledge of the most common words

Ofqual has also confirmed the assessment approach today, following a public consultation, which sets out the revised assessment objectives and confirms that the current use of tiered assessments and non-exam assessment (NEA) will continue. Ofqual will now conduct a public technical consultation on the details of assessment requirements and then exam boards will develop GCSE specifications, ready to be taught from September 2024.

The newly accredited Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language 2.0 qualification, which will be available for teaching at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year, provides students with a strong foundation for further academic or vocational pathways through real-world, applicable content.

Based on feedback from teachers, the new, one-year specification supports students following a less traditionally literary pathway through their English studies or educators looking for a fresh, new English Language course to motivate those required to re-sit.

With an innovative approach to the 19th century text requirement that sees 19th-century, non-fiction newspaper articles and instructional pieces of writing used rather than 19th century fiction, the qualification uses texts with relatable, modern themes and focuses on real-world applicable writing tasks such as letters of application.

Speaking about the new qualification, Katy Lewis, Head of English and Drama (pictured), said: “Every year 750,000 people take their English GCSE. In consulting with the English teaching community last year, we recognised that a one-size fits all approach to English Language doesn’t equally suit the needs, interests and progression of all learners.

“We wanted to develop a qualification that was equal but different to the English Language GCSEs that are currently available to learners across the UK, whilst motivating and engaging students to equip themselves with life-long skills.”

Requiring no co-teaching of literature, the functional qualification is designed to reinvigorate English language learning and pave the way for exam success whilst exposing learners to a broad range of diverse and inclusive texts.

As part of the organisation’s work with the Lit in Colour programme, Penguin Random House UK will also be providing schools and settings taking the new specification with access to a bespoke anthology of texts by contemporary writers and writers of colour.

The specification has been described as a “positive move” by teachers involved in its development, which allows students to truly engage and showcase their knowledge, providing them with “a better chance of success because the qualification meets their needs.”

Ruth Rhoden-Farmer, GCSE and FS English Lecturer at Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group, said: “The new GCSE format and resources will give each student the opportunity to explore visually engaging texts, engage with the English Language heritage, and apply the techniques they have discovered in their own writing.”

Pearson will be providing schools and settings with specification and sample assessment materials, mapping documents, schemes of work and one-year planners, a comprehensive programme of online training and network events and one-to-one support from an English specialist to support them in delivering the qualification with confidence.

To find out more about the new Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language 2.0 qualification, please visit quals.pearson.com/Lift

As well as facing almost a year of disruption to their studies as a consequence of the initial closure of schools and more recently whole year groups being placed into isolation, they also face continuing uncertainty around the forthcoming A-level cycle.

In order to support sixth-form students due to sit their exams in the UK next summer and help ensure they are not disadvantaged compared with those who sat their exams before Covid as well as future cohorts, the University of Birmingham has announced that it will be introducing additional flexibility around its admissions approach this year. This will involve reducing the entry requirements across the majority of its undergraduate degree programmes by one grade.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, Professor Sir David Eastwood said: “We recognise the need to adapt our admissions approach for this year given the extraordinary disruption affecting these students and their schools and the fact that many are likely to experience more than a year of interrupted learning by the time they sit their exams next summer.

“We have considered what we can do as a University to recognise and reward potential, mitigate some of the educational challenges as result of Covid, and reduce some of the pressure on students and teachers at this challenging time. Providing greater flexibility in our admissions for 2021 entry is one such area. Reducing the entry requirements for almost all of our programmes by one grade will, we hope, alleviate some of the anxieties and ensure that anyone who chooses to apply to study at the University of Birmingham is given the best opportunity to succeed in that ambition.”

The headline adjustment to entry grades will be applied across the majority of programmes. It will also be applied to any widening participation applicants at the University of Birmingham such as through the Pathways to Birmingham programme or contextual offer-making. In implementing this change the University also recognises the wider need to review university admissions nationally in order to develop a more effective admissions system that puts the needs of students front and centre.

The programmes that are not included are Medicine, Dentistry and Dental Hygiene, Nursing, Physiotherapy, and Social Work, where there is external regulation, as well as the University’s Foundation Year and degree apprenticeship programmes.