Official Statistics

Annual qualifications market report: academic year 2021 to 2022

Overview of the qualifications market in England and a single reference point about participants in the market.

Applies to England

Documents

Data tables for annual qualifications market report: academic year 2021 to 2022

Details

Key headlines

The key headlines in the qualifications market for the 2021 to 2022 academic year in England were:

  1. There were 11,400 active qualifications (available qualifications with certificates) in the academic year 2021 to 2022, a 3.0% decrease on the previous year.

  2. In total 11.0 million certificates were issued for GCSE, AS, A level and vocational and other qualifications available for award in England over the 2021 to 2022 academic year, up 2.2% compared to the 2020 to 2021 academic year.

  3. There were 6.1 million GCSE, AS and A level certificates awarded in the 2021 to 2022 academic year, down by 0.6% compared to the previous year.

  4. There were 4.9 million certificates awarded for vocational and other qualifications in the 2021 to 2022 academic year, up by 5.8% compared to the 2020 to 2021 academic year.

  5. The awarding organisations with the largest market shares in the academic year 2021 to 2022 were AQA (34.4%), Pearson (20.5%), OCR (6.7%) and City & Guilds (5.0%).

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Published 23 March 2023
Last updated 19 October 2023 + show all updates
  1. Updated Annual Qualifications Market Report: 2021 to 2022 academic year after receiving amended data from awarding organisations. Key headline figures are unaffected.

  2. First published.