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Students waiting for GCSE results Slight rise in top GCSE results
(9 minutes later)
Teenagers across Wales are waiting to receive their GCSE results following two years of coursework and exams. The number of pupils achieving top GCSE grades has risen in Wales, with 63% being awarded A-star to C.
Last year, 62.3% of students in Wales achieved grades A-star to C, with 6.3% achieving the top A-star grades. This represents a 0.7% rise on last year, and figures released on Thursday also showed the gap between girls and boys has narrowed by 1.6%.
The results will be published at 0930 BST and experts are waiting to see if boys have closed the gap on girls. However, girls are still outperforming boys, with 66.5% gaining passes grade C and above, compared to 59.3% of boys.
In last year's results, nearly 60% of girls got five or more passes at C or above, compared with just over 48% of boys. Elsewhere, the overall pass rate fell by 0.1% to 98% and the number of pupils taking foreign languages has fallen.
Education Minister Jane Hutt is now so concerned by the gap that she has ordered an inquiry into why boys are lagging behind. Welcoming the results, Wales' education minister Jane Hutt said Welsh students should be very proud of their performance.
"These are wonderful achievements and our young people have every reason to celebrate," she said.
Last week, Ms Hutt ordered an inquiry into why boys are lagging so far behind girls, describing the situation as unacceptable.
Education Minister Jane Hutt is concerned by the gap between boys and girlsEducation Minister Jane Hutt is concerned by the gap between boys and girls
The schools inspection service Estyn is due to report back on the issue in the autumn. The schools inspection service Estyn is looking into the issue and is expected to report back in the autumn.
Some experts believe the structure of some GCSE courses can favour girls, arguing that they are more likely to do well in coursework and longer-term projects than boys. Some experts believe the structure of some GCSE courses can favour girls - arguing that they are more likely to do well in coursework and longer-term projects than boys.
There is also concern that doing well at school is not seen as "cool" by some boys. There is also growing concern that doing well at school is not considered "cool" by some boys.
But Derec Stockley, director of examinations and assessment at the WJEC said he wanted to challenge the view held by some that coursework put boys at a disadvantage. Derec Stockley, director of examinations and assessment at WJEC, said he wanted to challenge the view that coursework put boys at a disadvantage.
"When we look at the work provided by boys and girls, there's very little difference between their levels of achievement," he said."When we look at the work provided by boys and girls, there's very little difference between their levels of achievement," he said.
Language concern "We're looking forward to what Estyn's report is going to say about why there is such a gap.
"We're looking forward to what Estyn's report is going to say about why there is such a gap." "There clearly is a lot of good practice out there - that's why the gap has narrowed.
Another big question is what the future holds for modern foreign languages. "We want to know what some schools are doing, because it's clearly working."
Back in 2003, 10,100 students took French, but by last year, that figure had dropped to 8,851 and there are fears Thursday's figures could see a further fall. Language drop
German has also seen a big drop recently, from 2,706 in 2003 to 2,346 in 2006. But efforts to encourage young people to take GCSEs in French and German appear not to be working.
In 2003, 10,100 candidates took French, but this year the figure has fallen to 8,343.
The numbers taking German have also gone down, from 2,706 to 2,144, but Spanish has seen a rise, from 1,327 to 1,684.
Modern foreign languages are not compulsory in Wales, although the Welsh Assembly Government funds projects which aim to introduce young children to languages at an early stage of their schooling in the hope they will continue learning when they reach 14.
Another concern is the number of teenagers taking the Welsh short course examination rather than the more in-depth first or second language qualification.
The short course requires only one hour of study a week, which supporters of Welsh have said is not enough.
Results from the Welsh Bac's Intermediate Diploma and Foundation Diploma were also released on Thursday and Ms Hutt said it was "an important milestone" for the qualification.
This year, 465 students (84% of those that entered) completed the intermediate level and 288 (81% of those that entered) completed the foundation level.