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Ucas figures show that 245,330 18-year-olds from across the UK have been accepted onto degree courses, up 17% on the same point last year.
The number of UK 18-year-olds taking up places has risen to 34.1%, up from 30.2% in 2020.
Overall, the total number of students accepted onto nursing courses has increased by 8% to 26,730. The figures show that 8,560 students from England have been accepted onto medicine and dentistry courses, up 23% from 6,960 on results day 2020.
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04:08
Universities that do not return to face-to-face teaching this coming academic year should not be charging full fees, the education secretary said.
Gavin Williamson told Sky News: “I think if universities are not delivering what students expect then actually they shouldn’t be charging the full fees.”
Williamson said ministers would give the Office for Students – the independent regulator of higher education in England – “all the power and all the backing” in pursuing universities “that aren’t delivering enough for students that are paying their fees”.
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04:03
Education secretary Gavin Williamson has said that, while the government wants to return to an exam-based system, pupils will continue to need extra support into 2022.
“We also recognise that those students who will be taking exams in 2022 will have also had their education disrupted,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He said, however, he hopes it will be possible to return to a more normal system before 2024.
“I would hope that we would be able to move to a normal system of exams much more rapidly than that, but we are making sure that we are getting the support in place for students again who have seen disruption to their education,” he said.
“For me, that is incredibly important. The impact of the pandemic isn’t just one year.”
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04:03
An increase in the number of nurses being accepted on to courses has been welcomed by the Royal College of Nursing. However, it warned this does not “equate to record numbers of nurses entering the workforce” as many won’t qualify until 2024 and beyond.
The RCN England director, Patricia Marquis, said: “There are already significant staff shortages in nursing and it is clear acceptance numbers are still not keeping pace with vacancies.
“Pressures of the pandemic have also left nursing staff exhausted. This not only puts patient care at risk but means students risk not completing their studies and entering the workforce.
“Ministers must reverse the 3% pay deal if we are to discourage many from abandoning the profession, leaving future nurses without the expert teaching they need.”
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03:58
Record number of students accepted on to UK degree courses, Ucas figures show
A record number of students have been accepted on to UK degree courses this year, Ucas figures show.
In total, 435,430 students have had places confirmed on an undergraduate course in the UK, up 5% on the same point last year, according to data published by the university admissions service.
A record 395,770 students have been accepted on their first choice full-time undergraduate course in the UK, up 8% from 365,500 in 2020.
The figures come on the day that students across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are receiving their A-level results, and students across Scotland are receiving their Highers results.
Overall, 388,230 people from across the UK have had places confirmed. This is an 8% increase on results day last year.
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03:48
Richard Adams
This year A-level, AS-level and GCSE results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be awarded through teacher-assessed grades (Tags) overseen by examination boards, while the Scottish Qualifications Authority will use a similar process in making awards.
Education policy is devolved to national governments, so each of the four countries have their own systems and qualifications.
Last year Ofqual, the exam regulator in England, attempted to award qualifications using an algorithm that allocated grades to each school based on past results, but that was abandoned shortly after A-levels were published, following an uproar.
This year grading has been left in the hands of schools without restrictions, leading to expectations that average grades will rise. But Ofqual and Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, have defended teachers from accusations of causing grade inflation.
A record number of school-leavers have applied through Ucas for places on university courses for this autumn, with 43% of the UK’s 18-year-olds wanting to enter higher education. University admissions officers have reported strong demand for health-related courses such as nursing and medicine, most likely as a result of the Covid pandemic.
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Share your experiences with us
Rachel Obordo
We want to hear from school leavers, parents, and teachers about how A-level grades and Scottish highers have been affected, and their experience of this year’s assessments. Have you achieved better results than you expected, or lower? Do you think the lack of summer exams has penalised you in any way? Or have you been unaffected?
You can share your experiences in the form here. Parental permission is required for those under the age of 18.
Please ensure you include important details, like the name of your school, in the description box. Photos would be great too. We will include some of your responses in our ongoing coverage.
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03:41
Grade inflation justified this year due to pandemic, says Gavin Williamson
The secretary of state for education said that grade inflation was justified this year because of the pandemic and the system would not return to normal next year.
“We are expecting children – students – to get better grades this year than maybe they have done in previous years, but they have been youngsters who are operating under quite exceptional circumstances and in quite unique circumstances. This cohort of youngsters have probably never had – no cohort has ever seen – a level of disruption that these youngsters have done, and you know you just cannot compare this year, with other years,” Gavin Williams told Times Radio.
He said that next year’s A-level students would still be affected by the pandemic. “You are still going to have youngsters who will be taking their examinations next year who will have equally suffered as a consequence of this pandemic, and sadly the tentacles of a pandemic actually reach far. So, what we need to do is ensure that there’s proper thoughtful and careful mitigation because you know we do need to have a sort of a glide path back to sort of normality,” he added.
“We shouldn’t be looking at creating sudden sharp shocks, because we recognise that we have a duty not just to these students as they’re getting their qualifications this year, but actually future students. So, how we manage that back as what’s being sort of careful and considered.”
Williamson also shared memories of his own A-level results day: “Well, I remember going up to college in Scarborough, getting that envelope, because it was a long time ago now, it is 27 years. Opening that envelope and recognising that my dreams had come true. And it opened the door for the next stage of my life, which was to go off to university to study social science at Bradford and I remember growing up in Scarborough, Bradford seems an incredibly exciting and exotic place so I was very excited about it and really looking forward to it. So, what it is, it gave me the opportunity to progress to the next stage of my life.”
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03:37
What should students do if they are unhappy with their final grades?
Pupils in England who want to appeal against their grade must first request that their school or college reviews whether an administrative or procedural error was made. Each school or college will set its own deadlines by which students must ask them to review a grade.
If the school or college rules no error was made, then students can escalate the appeal to the exam boards, which their school or college is expected to submit on their behalf. In England, the deadline to send an appeal to the exam board is 17 September.
There is an earlier deadline of 23 August for priority appeals, for example, if a student has not got their first choice of university place confirmed.
Can students sit an exam if they do not like their results?
Students in England who are unhappy with their A-level or GCSE grades will have the opportunity to take exams in the autumn.
AS and A-level exams will be held in October, while GCSE exams will take place in November and December. The higher-grade will count for applicants who wish to take an autumn exam.
What is the plan for the summer exams in 2022?
In England, ministers hope that exams will go ahead in summer 2022 after two years of cancelled exams. But pupils taking GCSE and A-level exams next year could be given advance notice on the focus of exam papers to ensure they are not disadvantaged as a result of lost learning during the pandemic.
The proposals include giving schools and colleges some choice over the topics that students are assessed on, as well as providing exam aids, but final details will not be confirmed until the autumn term.
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03:31
The education secretary has said students getting their A-level results today “deserve” the grades they get, awarded by teacher assessment rather than national exams.
Gavin Williamson was trying to dispel worries about so-called grade inflation: when more students appear to attain higher grades than in previous years.
Williamson’s intervention comes on the day that sixth-formers across the country wake up to their A-level results, which have been determined by teachers after this summer’s exams were cancelled.
Writing in the Telegraph, the education secretary defended the government’s decision to cancel exams. He said: “Any debate about the system we’ve used this year should not undermine or question the value of the grades students will be getting.
“We should congratulate them all for their resilience and determination not to allow the pandemic to be a barrier to their futures.”
He added it would have been “unfair on students” to examine them after more than a year of virtual lessons for many.
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3.22am EDT
03:22
Hundreds of thousands of students in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland will receive their A-level and GCSE results this week. A-level and AS level results day are today, 10 August, and GCSE results day is Thursday, 12 August.
All four nations – England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – adopted a system of awarding grades this summer based on teacher-based assessment.
Teachers in England have been required to consider a range of evidence, including mock exams, coursework, and in-class assessments using questions by exam boards, to make decisions on pupils’ grades.
Headteachers had to submit a personal declaration that they believed grades to be accurate.
Schools and colleges were asked to provide samples of student work to exam boards, as well as evidence used to determine the grades for the students selected, as part of quality assurance (QA) checks. Random and targeted sample checks of evidence were also carried out after grades were submitted.
In some cases, where the evidence did not support the grades submitted, schools and colleges have been asked to review their grades.
Last summer, the fiasco around grading led to thousands of A-level students having their results downgraded from school estimates by a controversial algorithm, before Ofqual announced a U-turn.
But this year, no algorithm will be used to moderate teachers’ grades.
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03:20
Sarah Marsh
Morning and welcome to the Guardian’s A-level results blog, where we bring you the latest news around A-level and AS level results day today. If you have any questions, comments, or want to share a contribution then please get in touch via any of the methods below.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com