Pupils achieve record GCSE results

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Figures show that 65.7% of the exams taken were awarded a C grade or above, an increase of 2.4% on last year and the largest year on year rise since 1990.

For the first time, more than one in five exams (20.7%) were given A* or As, the biggest rise since 1989.

The rises come despite the number of entries falling to a five year low. There were about 5.7 million entries this summer compared with 5.8 million last year, a drop of 2.7%.

The Joint Council for Qualifications, which published the provisional national GCSE results, said this was due to a number of factors.

Dr Mike Cresswell, director general of the AQA exam board, said it was partly due to a drop in the number of 16-year-olds across the country

There is also evidence that pupils being entered for GCSE English and maths early, in the November examinations, would have played a part. Those results are not included in the figures.

There were suggestions that schools are focusing on quality not quantity, which could also explain the rising grades.

Dr Cresswell said the average number of GCSEs taken by students had fallen from just over eight five years ago to just under eight. He said: "It has to be the case from the decline in numbers that some young people are focusing their efforts on fewer GCSEs. That has been a trend that has been happening since 2003."

Dr John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said: "Perhaps schools are focusing on quality rather than quantity, they are recognising that there is no benefit to pupils to do 11 or 12 GCSEs, it is better to have eight or nine good GCSEs."