Revealed: Biggest disadvantage gaps in GCSE and A-level subject entries

Students in England’s least deprived areas are three times as likely to enter GCSE PE and drama as those in the most deprived areas, Tes analysis reveals.

There are also large disadvantage gaps in music, food preparation and nutrition, design and technology and the separate sciences, with the pattern continuing into A-level subjects such as geography.

Tes analysed Ofqual’s subject entry data against local deprivation rankings, grouping local authorities into four bands from the most to least deprived.

This year marked the first time the exams regulator has published qualification results and uptake by subject at the local authority level.

Leaders and experts tell Tes that lower prior attainment, specialist teacher shortages and funding challenges in the most deprived areas mean students are taking a smaller range of subjects.

PE and arts disadvantage divide

The largest disadvantage divide was in GCSE PE, with around 4 per cent of students entering the subject in the most deprived areas of England, compared with 12.5 per cent in the least deprived.

This continued into A level, with PE uptake more than doubling in the least deprived areas compared with the most deprived.

Kate Thornton-Bousfield, CEO of the Association for Physical Education, said the findings prompted important questions about access to PE and related qualifications.

But she added that it should not be interpreted as a lack of interest in sport among students in disadvantaged communities or a lack of provision, as the many vocational sport qualifications offered by schools are not reflected in this data.

The significant differences in the uptake of GCSE PE, however, speak to whether “all young people have access to a genuinely broad range of academic and vocational options”, Thornton-Bousfield said.

GCSE drama had a similar divide (from 2.4 per cent in the most deprived areas to 6.9 per cent in the least deprived) and in music entries (from 4.9 per cent to 9.9 per cent).

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that increased levels of lower prior attainment in deprived areas mean that some students take fewer GCSEs to give them “the best chance of success” in core subjects.

“These schools also often have particular difficulty in recruiting subject specialists, which may affect how many classes they are able to provide, especially at A level,” he said.

However, Mr Di’Iasio added: “Schools are doing everything they possibly can to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, and they are often doing so in very challenging circumstances.”

‘Neglect’ of the arts

The Arts and Minds campaign said the analysis highlights the “years of neglect” by successive governments, in which the status of the arts has been “downgraded” due to reduced funding and support for specialist teachers, as well as accountability measures.

“An accountability system which pits schools against one another based on test results in a narrow set of subjects, and does not value the arts, forces many schools to prioritise other subjects,” a spokesperson said.

Deborah Annetts, chief executive of the Independent Society of Musicians, said the “postcode lottery is completely unfair”.

While many factors contributed to lower exam entry rates in deprived areas, such as access to musical instruments and lessons, “those challenges are not insurmountable”, she added.

The number of specialist secondary music teachers has also failed to grow over the past 15 years, with the number of music teacher trainees falling by 51.3 per cent between 2010-11 and 2024-25.

Divide in vocational subjects

In the most deprived local authorities in England, 3.2 per cent of students entered food preparation and nutrition, but 7.7 per cent in the least; in GCSE D&T the deprivation gap in entries went from 2 per cent to 4.4 per cent.

Ryan Ball, director of education at the Design and Technology Association, said that compared with other subjects, D&T costs more to deliver as it requires specialist workshops and equipment.

“Schools serving more disadvantaged communities may face greater budget pressures, struggle to implement and maintain D&T facilities, and see an iterative design process as a luxury they cannot afford,” he said.

D&T teachers are often among the top three most under-recruited subjects, and when they are in high demand, trainees often choose the schools with the best facilities and funding, Mr Ball added.

Uptake of the subject has also decreased due to Progress 8, he suggested, and students in the most affluent areas are often more likely to encounter design, engineering and architecture-related activities outside school.

Clear separate science divide at GCSE

There is also a clear divide in entries for the three separate sciences at GCSE.

In the most deprived local authorities in England, around 12-13 per cent of students entered biology, chemistry or physics, compared with around 20 per cent in the least deprived.

However, entries into combined science remained consistent across all areas in England, with rates around 44-46 per cent.

There were also exceptions to the trend: Slough, for example, is in the most deprived Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) quartile, but had a separate science entry rate of 29 per cent, while affluent Fareham recorded a rate of 8 per cent.

Kevin Latham, research and policy manager at the Sutton Trust social mobility charity, said previous research had found that less advantaged schools “do, on average, offer fewer demanding subjects at GCSE”, potentially limiting students’ choices post-16.

Schools with higher levels of disadvantage were also less likely to have specialist-trained teachers, particularly in science, which was “likely to impact the availability of subject options” at key stages 4 and 5, he said.

Experts have previously told Tes that the government’s plan for an “entitlement” to triple science at GCSE will be particularly difficult for the most disadvantaged schools as a result of these recruitment issues.

Geography disadvantage gap widens at A level

The disadvantage gap for geography exists at GCSE and widens into A level, the Tes analysis finds.

At GCSE, 24 per cent of students in the most deprived areas enter geography, compared with 30 per cent in the least deprived. The divide is 7 per cent versus 11 per cent at A level, but the correlation between affluence and geography is stronger at post-16.

Dr Catherine Souch, director of research, education and professional at the Royal Geographical Society, said the gap at GCSE had narrowed over the past decade, partly because of the English Baccalaureate and Progress 8, which encouraged more schools to offer geography.

Steve Brace, chief executive of the Geographical Association, said that although geography had seen increasing diversity among GCSE students, much of this progress was lost during the transition to A level.

Possible explanations included teacher shortages, limits on subject availability and uncertainty among students about the careers geography could lead to, according to both Mr Brace and Dr Souch.

Dr Souch added that she hoped the changes to the geography syllabus resulting from the curriculum and assessment review would mean more students choosing geography at GCSE and A level.

The latest Department for Education statistics show 466 accepted offers for geography teacher training courses starting this autumn, down from 903 at the same point last year, with specialist shortages more pronounced in disadvantaged areas.

Other A-level subjects more commonly taken in less deprived areas included D&T, French and business studies.

However, law entry rates were around twice as high in the most deprived areas as in the least deprived, while some of the most deprived areas recorded high maths and science entry rates.