HC Deb 08 July 1982 vol 27 cc180-3W
Mr. Grist

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the number of entrants for the Welsh joint education committee GCE O-level in the 12 most popular subjects for each of the last three years and the numbers and percentages who obtained A, B and C passes in each of those subjects.

Mr. Michael Roberts

The following information is derived from the WJEC statistical reports on the summer examinations in 1979, 1980 and 1981:

Grade A Grade B Grade C
Subject Entries Number Per cent. Number Per cent. Number Per cent.
Geography* 12,120 987 8.1 2,406 19.9 2,479 20.5
History 9,374 1,097 11.7 1,987 21.2 2,015 21.5
Art* 9,045 1,140 12.6 1,515 16.7 1,889 20.9
Physics 7,765 733 9.4 1,848 23.8 1,867 24.0
Chemistry 6,280 783 12.5 1,344 21.4 1,494 23.8
French 5,826 618 10.6 1,482 25.4 1,330 22.8
Home Economics 3,316 203 6.1 635 19.1 844 25.5
Scripture 3,225 401 12.4 791 24.5 789 24.5
* Includes entrants taking the common syllabus GCE/CSE examinations for which the entries were: Mathematics, 14,219; Biology, 8,660; Geography, 7,147; Art, 6,979.

WJEC GCE O level results—Summer 1980
Grade A Grade B Grade C
Subject Entries Number Per cent. Number Per cent. Number Per cent.
Mathematics* 24,456 1,857 7.6 3,203 13.1 5,856 23.9
English Language 23,118 2,261 9.8 4,737 20.5 6,368 27.5
English Literature 15,080 1,753 11.6 3,306 21.9 3,817 25.3
Biology* 13,039 1,003 7.7 2,258 17.3 2,761 21.2
Geography* 12,589 1,007 8.0 2,656 21.1 2,367 18.8
History 9,466 1,134 12.0 1,956 20.7 2,129 22.5
Art and Design* 9,330 1,240 13.3 1,433 15.4 1,774 19.0
Physics 8,273 896 10.8 2,116 25.6 1,821 22.0
Chemistry 6,452 778 12.1 1,556 24.1 1,462 22.7
French 5,639 581 10.3 1,409 25.0 1,292 23.0
Scripture 3,258 363 11.1 822 25.2 777 23.8
Home Economics 3,101 186 6.0 585 18.9 696 22.4
* Includes entrants taking the common syllabus GCE/CSE examinations for which the entries were: Mathematics, 17,342; Biology, 10,099; Geography, 8,368; Art and Design, 7,654.

WJEC GCE O level results—Summer 1981
Grade A Grade B Grade C
Subject Entries Number Per cent. Number Per cent. Number Per cent.
Mathematics* 26,583 1,855 7.0 3,070 11.5 6,354 23.9
English Language 23,377 2,226 9.5 5,049 21.6 6,479 27.7
English Literature 14,881 1,690 11.4 3,157 21.2 3,740 25.1
Biology* 13,843 1,040 7.5 2,366 17.1 2,795 20.2
Geography* 13,289 1,096 8.2 2,672 20.1 2,507 18.9
Art and Design* 10,615 1,600 15.1 1,577 14.9 1,973 18.6
History 9,265 1,124 12.1 1,902 20.5 2,142 23.1
Physics 8,487 884 10.4 2,141 25.2 2,104 24.8
Chemistry 6,557 800 12.2 1,618 24.7 1,448 22.1
French 5,987 653 10.9 1,521 25.4 1,323 22.1
Scripture 3,350 369 11.0 801 23.9 848 25.3
Home Economics 3,070 218 7.1 574 18.7 709 23.1
* Includes entrants taking the common syllabus GCE/CSE examinations for which the entries were: Mathematics, 22,099; Biology, 11,776; Geography, 9,438; Art and Design, 9,632.

Mr. Grist

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list, as a percentage of all secondary schoolchildren in Wales, the numbers of pupils entered for five or more GCE O-levels in each of the last 10 years.

Mr. Michael Roberts

The information is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

WJEC GCE O-level Results: Modern Languages
1979 1980 1981
Subject Grade C or better Grade C or better Grade C or better
Entries Number Per cent. Entries Number Per cent. Entries Number Per cent.
French 5,826 3,430 58.9 5,639 3,282 58.2 5,987 3,496 58.4
Welsh * 3,457 2,266 65.5 3,486 2,242 64.3 3,531 2,304 65.3
German † 1,961 859 43.8 2,083 861 41.3 2,076 890 42.9
Spanish 309 170 55.0 420 216 51.4 303 162 53.5

Mr. Grist

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list separately for each of the last three years the number of entrants in Wales for GCE O-level in each modern language and the number and percentage who passed at grade C or better.

Mr. Michael Roberts

The following information is derived from the WJEC statistical reports on the summer examinations in 1979, 1980 and 1981.

1979 1980 1981
Subject Grade C or better Grade C or better Grade C or better
Entries Number Per cent. Entries Number Per cent. Entries Number Per cent.
Italian 106 64 60.4 105 60 57.1 97 62 63.9
Russian 37 20 54.1 30 13 43.3 38 20 52.6
Others 51 41 80.4 40 28 70.0 23 19 82.6
* The figures are for the Welsh papers 02 and 03 combined.
† Includes entrants taking the common syllabus GCE/CSE examination 1979–782; 1980–947; 1981–952.