GCSE Results Show Worrying Trends - Williams

2.21.00pm GMT Thu 23rd Aug 2007

Commenting on today's GCSE results, Liberal Democrat Schools Spokesperson, Stephen Williams MP said:

"Children and their teachers are to be congratulated on their results. But the Government should be worried about overall performance.

"Fewer than half of sixteen year olds will leave compulsory education with five good passes including Maths and English. As our economy demands higher skills in order for Britain to remain competitive, we must focus relentlessly on driving up standards.

"Spotting and tackling underachievement at an early age is vital. The pupil premium proposed by the Liberal Democrats would provide extra investment in the education of children from deprived backgrounds.

"The Government's abandonment of the national curriculum requirement for pupils to study a language has caused the inevitable decline in pupils taking modern languages, with serious economic implications.

"The huge gap between boys and girls getting A to C grades in English is disturbing. More must be done to encourage boys to enjoy reading and perform well at writing from an early age."

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. Final 2006 figures for 5 A* - C grades including Maths and English, published 11 January 2007 showed a rate of 45.8%. The 2007 provisional results published today show overall increases of 0.9% with Maths at 0.9% and English at 0.6%.

2. The 2007 provisional results for English A* - C show Boys at 55.3% and Girls at 69.2%