DfE publishes data on Early Entry at GCSE Mathematics

18 November 2011

The Department for Education has published a report presenting data on the difference in final grades between those that do and do not enter GCSE mathematics and English early.

Key headlines from the report include:

-In both English and mathematics, early entrants overall perform worse than pupils who do not enter early.

-The statistical evidence so far indicates that for lower achieving pupils, there is little discernable benefit in early entry other than increasing opportunities to re-take before the end of KS4 which still does not improve the overall comparative result. For pupils who achieve level 4 or above at KS2 (and would therefore be expected to achieve grade A*-C at GCSE) the average final grade is lower for early entrants. Higher attaining pupils are therefore being disadvantaged by entering early and not achieving their full potential.

In May, ACME published a position paper on Early and Multiple Entry at GCSE Mathematics.