Northern Ireland Provisional GCE Results 2015
Justin Edwards, Chief Executive CCEAAnne Marie Duffy, Director of QualificationsPamela Larmour, Research and StatisticsRobert Shilliday, Marcomms
Context
• Briefing on behalf of Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ).
• Provisional NI GCE results from all five JCQ awarding organisations:– AQA– CCEA– OCR – PEARSON– WJEC
Format of Briefing
• GCE A Level Provisional Results 2015
77 Entries77 Performance77 Gender Comparisons77 Subject Specific information
• GCE AS Provisional Results 2015
• Questions and Answers
Headlines
• A level entries up by 2.5%• A level outcomes maintained• Mathematics the most popular
subject at A level• More females taking STEM
subjects
NI GCE Entries 2011 – 2015
2011 2012 2013 2014 201525000
26000
27000
28000
29000
30000
31000
32000
33000
34000
3258232908 32836
31600
32390
Year
No.
Of E
ntrie
s
NI GCE A Level Results
2015 2014
ENTRIES 32,390 31,600
A* (%) 7.6 7.3
A*- A (%) 29.3 29.9
A* - E (%) 98.2 98.1
Best Performance - NI 2015
Subject A* - A % EntryMathematics (Further) 64.1 181
Irish 56.1 330
German 47.4 97
Mathematics 44.9 3328
Chemistry 38.6 1843
French 38.4 536
Spanish 37.1 534
Art and Design Subjects 33.0 1029
Biology 32.6 3111
Physics 32.0 1532
Most Popular A-Level Subjects NI
Subject % of total A level entry Total subject entry1. Mathematics 10.3 3328
2. Biology 9.6 3111
3. Religious Studies 7.4 2401
4. History 7.1 2301
5. English 6.7 2182
6. Geography 6.1 1974
7. Chemistry 5.7 1843
8. Physics 4.7 1532
9. ICT 4.6 1498
10. Business Studies 4.3 1390
Mathem
atics
Political
Studies
Religio
us Studies
Span
ish
Design
& Te
chnology
Geogra
phy
Media
/ Film
Studies ICT
Computing
History
Psychology
Irish
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
Change 2014-15% Change
Increased Entries
Gender Comparisons 2015
Male Female
%A* 7.4 (6.8) 7.8 (7.6)%A* - A 27.2 (27.4) 31.0 (32.1)%A* - E 97.9 (97.8) 98.4 (98.4)
7.4% of grades awarded to Males were A*
7.8% of grades awarded to Females were A*
Most Popular A Level Subjects by Gender NI
% of total A level Male entry
% of total A level Female entry
Mathematics (13.5) Biology (11.0)
History (8.2) Religious Studies (9.4)
Physics (7.9) English (8.9)
Biology (7.9) Mathematics (7.7)
ICT (6.5) History (6.2)
STEM Subjects 2015 – Male
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Biology 1418 1385 1394 1287 1133
Chemistry 865 863 942 871 837
ICT 844 869 921 858 934
Mathematics 1807 1757 1885 1815 1946
Physics 1030 1064 1185 1160 1135
Technology 700 747 762 694 717
250
750
1,250
1,750
2,250
STEM Male Entries (NI) (2011-15)
No.
of E
ntire
s
Mathematics
BiologyPhysics
ICTChemistryTechnology
STEM Subjects 2015 – Female
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Biology 2032 2085 1965 1871 1978
Chemistry 949 986 978 974 1006
ICT 680 629 603 576 564
Mathematics 1285 1363 1291 1250 1382
Physics 407 472 392 389 397
Technology 210 247 236 245 305
250
750
1,250
1,750
2,250
STEM Female Entries (NI) (2011-15)
No.
of E
ntrie
s
Biology
Mathematics
Chemistry
ICT
PhysicsTechnology
Languages 2014-2015
Entry numbers
% of total entry 2015 2014 % change in entry
French 1.7 536 543 -1.3
Spanish 1.6 534 436 22.5
Irish 1.0 330 313 5.4
German 0.3 97 120 -19.2
NI AS Entries 2011 – 2015
2011 2012 2013 2014 201528500
30500
32500
34500
36500
38500
40500
42500
44500
46500
48500
42666
4448643472
4575147005
Year
No.
of E
ntri
es
NI AS Levels Results
Entries A (%) A – E (%)
2015 47,005 27.2 94.8
2014 45,751 27.3 94.5
• 2.7% increase in AS Level entries.• Highest entry since AS Levels were introduced.• Pass rate remains steady.
2015 Northern Ireland GCE Provisional Results Summary
• A level entries up by 2.5%• A level outcomes maintained• Mathematics the most popular
subject at A level• More females taking STEM
subjects