August 2023 – results days and next steps

Tuesday August 29th, 2023

Welcome to your August issue. I hope you’ve been having a good summer. With both 2023 results days behind us, we’ll be looking at next steps in this issue. Whether that’s starting sixth form, preparing to take up a university place, choosing subjects earlier on in your education, or considering career ideas.

A Level results 2023

As predicted, the percentage of top grades has fallen, almost back to 2019 ‘pre-pandemic’ levels. This year, just over 27% of all A Level grades were A or A* (compared with 36.4% in 2022 and 44.8% in 2021, when grades were based on teacher assessments rather than exams). That equates to around 73,000 fewer top grades this year than last – but still nearly 32,000 more than in 2019.

The gap between state and independent schools remains higher than in 2019 too. Ofqual reported that close to half the A Level candidates (47.4%) from independent schools achieved A or A* grades, while between two and four students in every 10 secured top grades in other educational settings (e.g. selective state schools, free schools, comprehensives and academies).

This 2023 cohort has done brilliantly, not least because these will have been the first formal exams many students had taken since their GCSEs were cancelled due to Covid.

If your exam results weren’t quite what you hoped or needed – don’t panic. It’s always worth talking to the admissions team at your chosen university. Depending on course numbers, take up and other people’s results – they may still be able to accept you onto your first-choice degree course. Alternatively, they might have places on another course that interests you.

You can also go through the UCAS ‘clearing’ process, where students are matched with university courses based on their results. You have two months from results day (i.e. until 17^th October 2023) to arrange an alternative course and university through clearing. So there’s plenty of time to think things through and discuss options. For example, you could choose to resit some or all of your exams. You could even take a gap year and get some volunteering or work experience under your belt alongside studying for resits. Talk to us if you’d like any advice about the clearing process, tutoring or other options.

GCSE results 2023

The pattern is the same for GCSE results, with pass marks falling for a second consecutive year. The percentage of passes this year (grade 4 or above) was 68.2% – almost back to pre-pandemic levels after the spike attributed to teacher assessments (as per A Levels).

If your GSCE results aren’t what you expected, please don’t panic. There are several options open to you. If you’re unhappy with your grade and don’t feel it’s a fair or accurate reflection of how you think the exam went, talk to your school. They can contact the exam board on your behalf to request a review. Contact us too if you’d like any additional advice. We can explain the review and appeal process and support you through it.

Alternatively, you can choose to resit any GCSE exam. Resits for maths and English take place in November; any other subject you’d need to resit next summer. Again, talk to us if you’re considering this route. We can help with tutoring or just talking through the decision-making process with you. Your school should be able to advise and support you with this too.

Subject choices and career options

In this segment, we’re looking at how best to future-proof your career and subject choices in a rapidly changing world. Is there such a thing as ‘the best career’ any more? If there is, how do you measure it? On earning potential? Availability of work? The best work-life balance? After months of strikes across the medical and teaching professions in the UK, it’s clear that the seemingly ‘most in-demand’ jobs are not necessarily the most rewarding by other measures.

Music, theatre, literature, art are attractive vocations for creative people who don’t thrive on routine. As a successful writer, painter or actor you could have an incredible lifestyle. But creative careers are subject to audience’s whims. There’s a great deal of luck involved, and you have to be the absolute best in your field. You can be an excellent (or even an average) doctor, dentist, engineer or teacher and still command a good salary and a stable income.

Are you practical and a problem solver? Do you like understanding what makes things work and fixing them so they do? Qualified builders, plumbers, electricians are always in demand, and you’d have the option to join a team or strike out by yourself.

Could you be your own boss? Being self-employed can bring amazing job satisfaction and flexibility, but you need to be across your marketing, sales, accounting, IT AND still deliver an outstanding service or product to your customers!

If starting your own business isn’t for you – why not explore any of those disciplines in more detail? All organisations need marketing, and there are ever-increasing ways to attract customers which demand different skill sets and expertise. What about accounting, banking or IT? The latter’s been a rapidly-growing sector in terms of demand, opportunities and salaries – but does AI pose a threat to jobs in this sector now?

It seems there are more questions than answers here! I think what that shows is that there’s no surefire guarantee that any job or career will always stay the same or remain constantly in demand. Just as we no longer expect to stay in the same job all our working lives (as our parents or their parents may have done) our children might not even expect to stay in the same career. So, transferable skills and the confidence to embrace change could be as important as in-depth subject knowledge. In our September 2019 blog, you can read a bit about why generalists might expect to excel in our increasingly specialised world.

That being the case, how do we help our children choose the subjects that will set them up for success when everything seems so fluid? In many cases, it comes down to what your child enjoys and what they’re good at. If they have their heart set on being a doctor or a vet, then they’ll need to focus on the sciences. We’ve included a few more subject-career suggestions in our previous blog. But for most pupils, it’s likely that favoured subjects will emerge before a definitive career idea takes shape. Encourage your child to take subjects they enjoy and excel in. But support them to discover hidden talents too. Independent schools have excellent track records in identifying and fostering individuals’ learning styles and unique flair. Read more about that in our June 2021 blog. Talk to your school – and talk to us too.

Your child’s teachers and school’s career advisor will be able to give you valuable insights into the choices best suited to them for the next stage of their studies.  At Regency Education, we can offer extra support too.  We can provide expert, objective, personalised advice based on an in-depth analysis of your child’s strengths, preferences, learning styles, aspirations and academic ability. Together, we can work with you as a family to find the things that make them tick. We can advise you about extra-curricular activities and holiday courses designed to bring out your child’s unique talents and help them identify what they love and whom they want to be. Get in touch today for a no-obligation chat.

Weird and wonderful jobs in a changing world

And don’t forget that some of the job opportunities open to our children didn’t even exist when we were entering the world of work! Just see last July Blog for insights into unheard-of career ideas that could be the perfect fit…

Enjoy the rest of the summer and have a great start to the new academic year. We’ll be back in touch in September.