Constructing and growing a robust, technology-led financial system is among the many ambitions set out within the authorities’s Industrial Technique, which focuses on enhancing productiveness by applied sciences akin to synthetic intelligence.
Nevertheless, within the tech sector, the most recent information from the Workplace of Nationwide Statistics reveals that for the quarter between Could 2022 and July 2022, there have been 74,000 vacancies within the data and communications sector.
Lowering this determine requires growing tech expertise, which begins with equipping school-leavers with the proper expertise. The A-level outcomes characterize an indicator of the expertise pool created by UK increased training institutes, which feeds the vacancies pipeline.
Total, 14,810 candidates took A-level computing in 2022. This quantity has been steadily rising since 2012, though the graphs revealed on the Workplace of {Qualifications} and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) present that whereas there was a fourfold enhance within the variety of male candidates taking A-level computing, the quantity for feminine candidates has elevated nearly ninefold over the previous 10 years.
The info reveals that just about 80% of feminine candidates (79.7%) and 75.4% of male candidates achieved grades C and better in A-level computing. The proportion of these attaining the highest A* grade fell again from 19.8% in 2020 to 14.4%. The present 12 months’s outcomes are extra intently aligned with the outcomes for 2020 (13.6%).
Ofqual mentioned the outcomes each for A-levels and AS ranges are increased than in 2019. It reported that 35.9% of A-level candidates achieved grade A in contrast with 25.2% in 2019. The outcomes present that 62.2% of candidates achieved grade B and above in contrast with 51.1% in 2019.
For AS outcomes, Ofqual reported that 25.2% of candidates achieved grade A in contrast with 20.1% in 2019. It famous that entries for AS have fluctuated in recent times, making it tougher to interpret any adjustments.
Jo Saxton, chief regulator at Ofqual, mentioned: “The category of 2022 may be so pleased with what they’ve achieved. As we speak’s outcomes are increased than these of 2019, and – as we’ve got at all times mentioned – decrease than in 2021, when there was a distinct methodology of evaluation.
“It is sensible to check this 12 months’s outcomes with these of 2019, when exams have been final sat. I felt strongly that it might not have been proper to go straight again to pre-pandemic grading in a single go, however settle for that we do have to proceed to take steps again to normality. These outcomes total, coming as they do broadly halfway between 2021 and 2019, characterize a staging submit on that journey.”
In his Twitter feed, Will Quince, minister of state for college requirements, congratulated academics and pupil on the outcomes. “The wonderful outcomes we’re seeing at present are a testomony to the resilience and arduous work of scholars and academics across the nation,” he mentioned. “I want you all the very best in your subsequent steps, no matter you resolve to do!”
In a follow-up tweet, he additionally had a message to these college students who didn’t get the grades they require for entry right into a college course. “Keep in mind that college isn’t the proper choice for everybody and there are many selections on the market,” mentioned Quince.