Uptake of GCSE subjects 2023 - Statistics Report Series No. 143 - Research results and school-level classifications

Sep 5, 2026

Report on the uptake of GCSE subjects in England in 2023, defining uptake as the number or percentage of students taking each subject at the end of Key Stage 4 (KS4). Built from publicly available Department for Education data, counting only GCSE 9-1 full courses and using additional school characteristics. Presents results by school type, school attainment, school deprivation level, and school sex composition, while noting missing or suppressed values used to protect confidentiality where measures involve very small student counts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Data source and definition of uptake

Results

School type

School attainment

School deprivation level

School sex composition

Notes on missing and suppressed data

Uptake of GCSE subjects 2023 Statistics Report Series No. 143 Alejandra Miranda, Tim Gill 24 January 2025 Author contact details: Alejandra Miranda, Tim Gill Assessment Research and Development Research Division Shaftesbury Road Cambridge CB2 8EA UK [alejandra.miranda@cambridge.org](alejandra.miranda@cambridge.org)[ ](alejandra.miranda@cambridge.org)[https://www.cambridge.org](https://www.cambridge.org) As a department of the university, Cambridge University Press & Assessment is respected and trusted worldwide, managing three world-class examination boards, and maintaining the highest standards in educational assessment and learning. We are a not-for-profit organisation. Cambridge University Press & Assessment is committed to making our documents accessible in accordance with the WCAG 2.1 Standard. We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of our documents. If you find any problems or you think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact our team: Research Division If you need this document in a different format contact us telling us your name, email address and requirements and we will respond within 15 working days. How to cite this publication Miranda, A. , & Gill, T. (2025) . Uptake of GCSE subjects 2023. Statistics Report Series No. 143. Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Introduction This report is focused on the uptake of GCSE subjects in England in 2023. Uptake in a GCSE subject is defined as the number or percentage of students at the end of Key Stage 4 (KS4) taking the subject. This report was produced using publicly available data from the Department for Education’s (DfE)“Find and compare schools in England” service 1 . The dataset consisted of KS4 results in all subjects provided by each school in England. Other school information, such as schools’ sex composition, admissions policy, and the number of disadvantaged pupils at the end of KS4 were also available. Only GCSEs (9-1) full course (both single and double award) were counted for this report. In this report, GCSE uptake is presented by the following school classifications: school type, school attainment, school deprivation level, and school sex composition. Results Tables 1 to 4 present the distribution of schools within each of the different school classifications. The total number of schools is not identical in each table, due to small amounts of missing or suppressed data within each classification. In certain circumstances, DfE suppressed some school data values to protect confidentiality and minimise identification risks. This usually happens when the measure covers only five or fewer students2 . School type GCSE qualifications are taught at several different types of school. In line with the uptake reports for 2019 and onwards (e.g. , Gawedzka & Gill, 2022; Lim & Gill, 2023), schools were assigned a school type based on their admissions policy and institution type as recorded in the dataset. In this report, schools were classified into seven different school types: Academy (nonselective in highly selective area (HSA)), Academy (other non-selective), Academy (selective), Independent school, Non-selective in highly selective area, Other non-selective, and Selective. Other non-maintained schools, such as special schools, were excluded. Table 1 presents the number and percentage of students and schools in each school type. 1 This can be accessed here: [https://www.find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk/](https://www.find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk/) 2 The applied suppression rule was explained in the “abbreviations” file that accompanied the dataset. As stated in the file, different measures might have different rules applied. Table 1. GCSE students and schools, by school type. | School type | N students | % students | N schools | % schools | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Academy (non-selective in HSA) | 32412 | 5.1 | 183 | 4.5 | | Academy (other non-sel

FAQs

How is GCSE subject uptake defined in this report?

GCSE uptake is defined as the number or percentage of students at the end of Key Stage 4 (KS4) taking the subject.

What data source was used to produce the report?

The report uses publicly available data from the Department for Education’s “Find and compare schools in England” service, including KS4 results and selected school information.

Which GCSE entries are counted for the analysis?

Only GCSE (9-1) full course entries—both single and double award—are counted in the report.

Sep 5, 2026

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