THE number of pupils passing GCSEs in the island with an A*-C grade (equivalent to an O-level) was the fourth-highest on record, education bosses say.
More than 890 15- and 16-year-olds students were entered for GCSEs and equivalent qualifications in the island’s five state secondary schools in 2012. There were entries in about 50 separate examination titles ranging from engineering to Italian. Nearly every student was entered for maths and English and the vast majority of students also had at least one entry in science.
The total number of full GCSE (or equivalent) entries was more than 8,400.
Ninety-three per cent of these entries were in GCSE subjects, the remainder were mainly BTEC first diplomas or BTEC first certificates or diplomas in digital application.
A further 300 entries were for short course GCSEs (worth half of a full GCSE), a smaller number than in previous years.
On average each student was entered for the equivalent of 9.6 GCSEs.
In England where GCSE results have fallen for the first time in 26 years and there has been mounting controversy around results for GCSE English language.
In the Isle of Man the overall A*-G pass rate in the five state secondary schools is a record high and some individual students have achieved outstanding outcomes however in other respects the results are slightly below those of recent years.
The A*-G pass rate for full course GCSEs exceeded 99 per cent for the first time, with 99.1 per cent of entries being successful.
17.4 per cent of the entries produced A or A* grades (the fourth highest on record)
64.4 per cent of the full GCSE entries were passed at the higher grades, A*-C (the fourth highest on record).
The average number of subjects entered, at 9.6 GCSE (or equivalent) entries per student, was slightly down on last year.
The GCSE points score per student at 381 was the fifth highest on record (A*=58 points, A=52, B=46, C=40, D=34, E=28, F=22, G=16).
The Department of Education and Children say in a statement: ‘The results published here are not comparable with results released in the UK this week. The UK results include all exam entries, including those from students in the Isle of Man as well as also included are grammar schools, independent schools and further education colleges where some of the candidates may be mature adults sitting just one GCSE. The Isle of Man data relate solely to 16-year-olds on roll in the island’s five [state] secondary schools.’
In England, the independent exams regulator, Ofqual, had recently indicated that exam boards would have to take action again grade-inflation and introduced a new system of ‘comparable outcomes’.
It had been anticipated that GCSE results would not rise but a fall in exam performance was not expected. As GCSE results were published today, many schools have complained that grade boundaries in English language have been substantially increased leaving pupils with lower results than expected.
GCSEs were introduced in the Isle of Man, England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1986, with the first exams taken in 1988. They replaced the dual system of GCE O’levels and CSEs.
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