Ofqual have helpfully provided some data on the 2023 Level 5 results that came out today. Congratulations to all candidates on their achievements, even if they are tempered by the type of referencing system employed to suit the demands of the system.

In the past, I have looked at the A and A* percentages in Physics and Media/Film/TV Studies as an interesting contrast. This year it is also possible to look at the percentages of such grades in both 2019 (the last pre-pandemic year) and 2023. Outcomes by centre type (ofqual.gov.uk)

Cumulative percentage outcomes by centre type – grade A and above

Level 5 qualifications

Centre type  – Physics	% achieving grade in 2019	% achieving grade in 2023	Difference 2019 and 2023
Other	19.4%	25.2%	5.80%
Further education establishment	18.4%	17.2%	-1.20%
Independent school including city training colleges (CTCs)	42.4%	47.2%	4.80%
Secondary comprehensive or middle school	21.7%	25.6%	3.90%
Secondary selective school	25.8%	29.2%	3.40%
Free schools	27.8%	31.2%	3.40%
Sixth form college	24.3%	27.0%	2.70%
Academies	21.1%	22.6%	1.50%
Secondary modern school/high school	37.4%	37.0%	-0.40%

Normally, I would ask you to work out which table was the Physics and which Media/Fil/TV Studies, but this year have added the subject titles because not all centres are represented in the Media/Film/TV Studies subject group table by the types of centres.

Centre type – Media/Film/TV Studies	% achieving grade in 2019	% achieving grade in 2023	Difference 2019 and 2023
Independent school including city training colleges (CTCs)	27.7%	26.8%	-0.9%
Further education establishment	10.0%	9.4%	-0.6%
Academies	11.6%	12.6%	1.0%
Sixth form college	11.7%	13.3%	1.6%
Secondary comprehensive or middle school	9.7%	12.2%	2.5%
Secondary selective school	21.7%	30.4%	8.7%

Generally, despite the shortage of teachers of physics, the percentage of grades A and above is higher than in Media/Film/TV Studies (MFTVS) and often higher in 2023 than in 2019 except in the FE sector and secondary modern schools. This highlights the risk of using data in an uncontextualized manner.

My suspicion is that in physics it is only those likely to do well that are entered, whereas the entry policy for MFTVS may be wider, and hence there are more lower grades.

It will be necessary to investigate candidate numbers to see whether the increase in A and above grades in MFTVS in the selective schools is down to either a more selective entry policy or some other factor?

I find some of the groupings a bit odd as well. Should ‘city training colleges’ actually be ‘city technology colleges’ and why are ‘high schools’ included with secondary modern as a group when they could be any type of school? The inclusion of ‘middle schools’ in Level 5 qualifications for physics is even more odd.

So, an interesting set of statistics that not a great deal can be read into, except that there are generally more higher grades in physics than in MFTVS. Is the shortage of teachers of physics having an effect, especially in the FE sector? I cannot be sure, but as further education colleges have a lower percentage in 2023 than in 2019, there might be a case to answer, especially as the recent DfE workforce in further education study suggests that there might be fewer than 250 leading physics lecturers across the whole of the FE sector.

But perhaps outcomes might just be down to who is enrolled?

(an earlier version of this post contained a mistake in the table and the post has been corrected and updated)