Variation in GCSE, AS, and A level qualification results: Summer 2026
This release presents statistics on changes in overall GCSE, AS and A level outcomes seen by schools and colleges.
Key Points:
In summer 2026, national results for GCSE, AS and A level were similar to 2025. However, results went down in some schools and colleges and up in others, and there was substantial variation in changes across schools and colleges.
Across GCSE, AS and A level, schools and colleges that saw a decrease in 2025 tended to see an increase in 2026, and vice versa. The strength of this pattern was moderate. The correlation between changes in school or college results in 2026 compared to the changes in 2025 ranged between -0.54 and -0.28 across qualification types.
Some of the statistics in this release are presented as boxplots. More information about how to interpret these charts can be found in the background notes for this release. The underlying data for each boxplot can be found in the data tables published alongside this release.
Changes to this release
We have made changes to the data source for this release for 2026. Previous versions of this release were limited to maintained schools only. We have now expanded the analysis to include all schools and colleges in Wales.
What has changed?
We have changed the data source for this release to be based solely on the results data that we collect from awarding bodies one week before each results day. Previously, we used the results data collected from awarding bodies for the most recent year only, and used results data for maintained schools from the Welsh Examinations Database for all other years.
The statistics now cover all schools, colleges and other exam centres in Wales that meet the minimum entry threshold for the analysis. Previously, the statistics only included maintained schools in Wales as the Welsh Examinations Database only covers maintained schools.
The time series of these statistics is now shorter, as we do not hold as much historic data for the new data source. The previous version of these statistics went back to summer 2017. The updated statistics start from summer 2022. Previous versions of this release with the older data are still available on our website.
Why have we made this change?
We made this change as we now hold enough data collected from awarding bodies to provide a meaningful time series while also including different types of schools and colleges. Expanding the coverage of these statistics makes them more comprehensive and valuable, particularly for AS and A level, as many learners sit these qualifications outside of maintained schools. The change also means that we are using the same data source across all years, which improves the validity of comparisons over time.
More information about the changes and how they impact the statistics can be found in the background notes.
Previous releases
Variation in GCSE, AS, and A level qualification results: Summer 2025 | Qualifications Wales
Variation in GCSE, AS, and A level qualification results: 2024 | Qualifications Wales
Variation in GCSE, AS, and A level qualification results: 2023 | Qualifications Wales
Variation in GCSE, AS, and A level qualification results: 2022 | Qualifications Wales
Contact
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Tel: 01633 373 292
Email: statistics@qualifications.wales
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