Hundreds of thousands of teenagers celebrated their GCSE results on Thursday as the proportion of entries awarded top grades rose slightly from last year. More than a fifth (22.0%) of UK entries received at least a 7 or an A grade, up by 0.1 percentage points from 21.9% in 2025.
However, national figures also showed that the rate of students scoring a decent pass returned to pre-pandemic levels. Some 67.3% of GCSE entries achieved at least a 4 or a C grade – considered a “standard pass” – down from 67.4% in 2025 and matching the 2019 figure.
Regional Disparities Widen to Record Levels
The gap in results between boys and girls narrowed again, reaching its smallest point this century. But the regional divide increased, with top grades between London, the best-performing region, and the North East, the worst-performing, widening to a record high of 10.9 percentage points, up from 10.6 last year. This is the largest gap since records began in 2010.
Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said: “It is a damning indictment of 21st-century Britain that where you happen to grow up has such a profound impact on your educational and life chances. Something is fundamentally amiss when children with the same talents and potential face such different prospects simply because of where they happen to live. England’s educational divide is a story of London increasingly pulling away from much of the rest of the country.”
Government Response and New Initiatives
The Department for Education said ministers are committed to tackling “entrenched inequality, so that where you are born does not determine what you go on to achieve.” It highlighted the Government's Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams, which work with schools and areas where performance is weakest, as well as its Mission North East and Mission Coastal initiatives to improve outcomes in deprived areas.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to offer more technical routes for teenagers to improve career opportunities across the country. In one of his first acts as PM, he announced that from next year, Year 10 pupils will be able to combine core academic subjects like English and maths with technical education linked to jobs available in their area.
On Thursday, Burnham said: “Congratulations to everyone getting their GCSE results today, you should be proud of the work that got you here. Whatever your results, remember there isn't just one route to success. We're creating more opportunities for young people to choose the path that's right for them, whether that's academic or technical. Every young person should have the chance to fulfil their potential. I'll make sure they do.”
Resit Reform and Gender Gap
Education Secretary Lucy Powell also promised to crack down on the “conveyor belt” of resits teenagers face if they fail to secure at least a grade 4 in English and/or maths GCSE. She said repeated resits lead to “branding (students) as a failure” and affecting self-confidence.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Powell said: “That’s why we’re going to be looking at that, and I’m going to be bringing in a new stepping stone qualification, as we’re calling it, a level one… in maths and in English, so that there is an additional qualification that young people can work towards. And I want to work with employers to make sure that that qualification is credible, is respected, and that employers see that as sufficient or more than sufficient for young people to go on to do things like an apprenticeship in construction or health and social care.”
On the gender gap, nearly a quarter (24.4%) of girls’ GCSE entries were awarded at least a grade 7/A compared with almost a fifth of boys’ entries (19.6%) – a 4.8 percentage point gap, down from 5.1 last year. Meanwhile, 70.2% of girls’ entries achieved at least a grade 4/C compared with 64.4% of boys’ entries – a 5.8 percentage point gap, down from 6.2 last year.
Martha Lucas, research officer at the Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys (CPRMB), said: “For a lot of employment, meeting that grade four in maths and English is a barrier to finding that employment. This year, the number of male Neets (not in education, employment or training) hit more than 500,000. So, boys are consistently leaving school without the qualifications nor education necessary for them to thrive in adult life – get a job, be in employment – and quite frankly that desperately needs to change.”
