Chemistry moves up the charts
A-level and AS-level results came out today, with recent reforms across numerous subjects making for continued complicated analysis this year.
Chemistry at A-level has now overtaken history as the fourth most popular A-level subject with 6.3% of the total number of entrants.
Our president, Professor Sir John Holman, says: "Over 50,000 students – almost exactly equal numbers of males and females – made the wise choice to take A-level chemistry, which opens so many doors to rich future careers.
"I congratulate these students on their choice and on their hard work over the past two years."
|
Chemistry |
|||
|
A level |
2017 |
2016 |
% change |
|
Total |
52331 |
51811 |
1.00 |
|
Male |
25716 |
25937 |
-0.85 |
|
Female |
26615 |
25874 |
2.86 |
|
Female/Male Ratio |
50.9/49.1 |
49.9/50.1 |
AS-levels drop significantly
In England, the most dramatic figures have been around AS-levels, where reforms to 13 subjects (which began in 2015) continue to impact numbers taking those exams, with an average of 39.1% fewer entrants across all subjects.
Changes to the English system mean 13 A-level subjects were decided solely by final exams, with no link to coursework or AS-levels taken after the first year of study. As AS-levels no longer contribute to A-level results, many schools have either chosen not to offer AS-levels or have not entered as many students for that qualification. A dramatic fall in entries for AS-levels across the reformed subjects includes a 55% drop in entries for chemistry. However, this drop is comparable to that for other sciences, and less pronounced than the fall in entries for some other subjects.
Subjects that have not yet reformed have seen much smaller declines overall, with 7% fewer students against a 2.5% smaller cohort. This could indicate that students are taking fewer subjects in Year 12, though the picture will not be entirely clear until the lag in subjects undergoing reforms in different years unfolds next year.
Professor Sir John Holman was a teacher of chemistry and a head teacher for a number of years before taking up posts at the University of York.
He adds: "The decoupling of AS from A-level risks further narrowing the already narrow A-level curriculum. Reforms to A-levels are still working through, but we already know that most students are now taking only three A-levels, giving England just about the narrowest post-16 curriculum in the developed world.
"This seems unsustainable in the long-term, as the world of work becomes increasingly dependent on every worker understanding science and mathematics."
Emerging differences around the nations
Although A-level entries for chemistry look healthy when looking at the combined figures for the nations who use these qualifications, the picture is different when looking at the nations individually.
In England entries were 1.7% up against a decrease of 0.6% for all subjects, which is an encouraging figure. In Wales entries for chemistry decreased by 5.8%, but this is against an overall fall in entries of 6.3%.
However, in Northern Ireland, entries for chemistry were down 6.5%, while the total A-level entries saw a smaller fall of 3.6%. This is particularly concerning as the uptake of chemistry A-level was already lower in Northern Ireland than in England and Wales.