1. Northern Ireland Provisional GCE Results 2015 Thursday 13 August 2015

2. Northern Ireland Provisional GCE Results 2015 Justin Edwards, Chief Executive CCEA Anne Marie Duffy, Director of Qualifications Pamela Larmour, Research and Statistics Robert Shilliday, Marcomms

3. Context Briefing on behalf of Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ). Provisional NI GCE results from all five JCQ awarding organisations: – AQA – CCEA – OCR – PEARSON – WJEC

4. Format of Briefing GCE A Level Provisional Results 2015 ̶̶ Entries ̶̶ Performance ̶̶ Gender Comparisons ̶̶ Subject Specific information GCE AS Provisional Results 2015 Questions and Answers

5. Headlines A level entries up by 2.5% A level outcomes maintained Mathematics the most popular subject at A level More females taking STEM subjects

6. NI GCE Entries 2011 – 2015

7. NI GCE A Level Results 20152014 ENTRIES 32,390 31,600 A* (%) 7.67.3 A*- A (%) 29.329.9 A* - E (%) 98.298.1

8. Best Performance - NI 2015 SubjectA* - A %Entry Mathematics (Further)64.1181 Irish56.1330 German47.497 Mathematics44.93328 Chemistry38.61843 French38.4536 Spanish37.1534 Art and Design Subjects33.01029 Biology32.63111 Physics32.01532

9. Most Popular A-Level Subjects NI Subject% of total A level entryTotal subject entry 1. Mathematics10.33328 2. Biology9.63111 3. Religious Studies7.42401 4. History7.12301 5. English6.72182 6. Geography6.11974 7. Chemistry5.71843 8. Physics4.71532 9. ICT4.61498 10. Business Studies4.31390

10. Increased Entries

11. Gender Comparisons 2015 MaleFemale %A*7.4 (6.8)7.8 (7.6) %A* - A27.2 (27.4)31.0 (32.1) %A* - E97.9 (97.8)98.4 (98.4) 7.4% of grades awarded to Males were A* 7.8% of grades awarded to Females were A*

12. Most Popular A Level Subjects by Gender NI % of total A level Male entry % of total A level Female entry Mathematics (13.5)Biology (11.0) History (8.2)Religious Studies (9.4) Physics (7.9)English (8.9) Biology (7.9)Mathematics (7.7) ICT (6.5)History (6.2)

13. STEM Subjects 2015 – Male Mathematics Biology Physics ICT Chemistry Technology

14. STEM Subjects 2015 – Female Biology Mathematics Chemistry ICT Physics Technology

15. Languages 2014-2015 Entry numbers % of total entry20152014% change in entry French 1.7536543-1.3 Spanish 1.653443622.5 Irish 1.03303135.4 German 0.397120-19.2

16. NI AS Entries 2011 – 2015

17. NI AS Levels Results EntriesA (%) A – E (%) 2015 47,00527.294.8 201445,75127.394.5 2.7% increase in AS Level entries. Highest entry since AS Levels were introduced. Pass rate remains steady.

18. 2015 Northern Ireland GCE Provisional Results Summary A level entries up by 2.5% A level outcomes maintained Mathematics the most popular subject at A level More females taking STEM subjects

19. Questions and Answers