Correspondence

Letter to governors and trustees: qualification results 2024

Updated 3 October 2024

Applies to England

Dear Governor or Trustee,

I am writing to you as Ofqual’s Chief Regulator to outline the national context for qualification results this year. Having served as a senior leader in schools for over 2 decades, I appreciate the significant contribution governors and trustees make to schools and colleges up and down the country. As such I believe it’s important for you to have information about the national context as you work with your leadership teams to understand the qualification results for your school, college or trust.

2024 qualification results 

Following the return to pre-pandemic standards, A levels, AS and GCSE grading continued as normal this summer and standards were maintained from 2023. 

Ofqual expected national results to be broadly stable and this was seen in the results students received in August for both AS and A levels, and GCSEs. There are small fluctuations in results every year; this can be due to changes in the cohort of students and changes in course choices over time. 

For more information on national outcomes this summer see Ofqual’s guide to results for AS and A level and guide to results for GCSE. The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) has published results in England for GCSE, AS and A level overall and by subject on their website. 

Results for vocational and technical qualifications, such as Pearson BTECs and OCR Cambridge Nationals, remained broadly stable. New T Levels (level 3) and Tech Awards (level 2) were issued for the first time this year. For new qualifications, awarding organisations apply generosity in grading where appropriate. 

Considering your results in the national context

If you want to consider results for your school, college or trust in the national context, Ofqual analytics allows you to explore results for A level, GCSE and Vocational and Technical Qualifications.

For GCSEs and A levels this allows you to look at outcomes by:

• county
• subject combinations, and
• centre type

You can also explore the vocational and technical qualifications landscape, including changes in qualifications awarded over time and outcomes for T level Technical Qualifications (TQ) and performance table qualifications. 

For example, you may wish to use this interactive visualisation showing the level of variation in schools’ and colleges’ GCSE results compared with 2023. In any year, individual schools and colleges may see variation in the proportion of students achieving each grade compared with previous years. This tool could support your consideration of variation in your school or college or trust results this year in the context of national variability. 

Looking ahead to 2025

Whilst schools and colleges are still analysing this year’s results, we know that work to prepare students taking exams next summer is already well under way. Grading standards in 2025 will be maintained from summer 2024. This means we will regulate exam boards so that they ensure that the standard of work to achieve a particular grade remains comparable to that expected in summer 2024.

As governors and trustees you play an important role in supporting your Senior Leadership Teams to ensure effective arrangements for the safe delivery of exams and assessments each year, including being confident that the necessary cyber security arrangements are in place as the threats in this area increase.

All schools and colleges should also have arrangements in place to gather evidence of student performance to ensure resilience in the qualifications system, as set out in this guidance. It is important that appropriate evidence is available so that qualifications could be awarded even in the most unlikely of circumstances. As governors you may wish to seek assurance about the approach in place in your school, college or trust.

I hope that this information helps you to understand the national context when you consider exam results, and as the schools and colleges you work with prepare their students for exams and assessments next year. 

Yours sincerely,
Sir Ian Bauckham CBE, Chief Regulator, Ofqual