Russell Haggar
Site Owner
Introduction
I have revised and reorganised this document in March 25 to include data on subject entries in GCSE and GCE Advanced level courses between 2018 and 2024. The charts and tables in the document are derived from my own calculations using mainly data on the Joint Council for Qualifications [JCQ] website publication for GCSE and GCE Advanced Level subject entries and results. You may access the Examinations section of the JCQ website here.
Also trend data for 2016 -2024 have been effectively summarised by ffteducationdatalab and you may access their diagrammatic presentations here .These data sources are supplemented by various items from the BBC, Guardian, Independent and Schoolsweek websites.
I have also included some information from ffteducationdatalab on BTEC courses.
Some Taster Links
Click here for a Guardian article on why girls who achieve good GCSE results in STEM subjects are nevertheless less likely than boys to choose them as A Level options.
Click here for Guardian article entitled Science doesn't belong to men. And here's the proof [by Afua Hirsch] October 2018
Click here for Conversation article entitled Nobel Prize should be just the start of making women scientists more visible by Shelley Thompson October 2018
Click here for BBC item: No Room at top for top women scientists September 2019
You will also come across arguments that the structures of male and female brains are different and that helps to explain differing aptitudes of males and females for different subjects. Click here for a critical discussion of such views. February 2019
Section One: - Click Here
Preliminary Analysis of recent GCSE and GCE Advanced Level Subject Entries subdivided by Gender.
Section Two: - Click Here
Summaries of recent trends in subject entries at GCSE and GCE Advanced Level subdivided by Gender.
Section Three:
A longer section containing data for recent years on gender differences in subject entries and in examination results in specific subjects at GCSE and GCE Advanced level and in Vocational and Higher Education. This section is further subdivided as follows.
Section 3[a] - Click Here
Gender and GCSE Subject Choice 2012-2022
Section 3[b] - Click Here
Gender and GCE Advanced level Subject Choice 2008-2022
Section 3[c] - Click Here
Vocational and Higher Education
Gender Differences in Subject Choice: Vocational Education
Gender, Subject Choice and Higher Education
Section 4: - Click Here
An introductory essay on Gender and Subject Choice which relies on data from Sections 1, 2 and 3
Click here to go to Section 1