Official Statistics
Annual qualifications market report: academic year 2019 to 2020
Overview of the qualifications market in England and a single reference point about participants in the market.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
Main trends
- There were 11.6K available qualifications with certificates in academic year 2019 to 2020 (October 2019 to September 2020), a 5% decrease on the previous year.
- There were 10.3 million certificates awarded in GCSE, AS, A level and vocational and other qualifications available for award in England over the academic year 2019 to 2020.
- The number of certificates fell by 12% compared to the previous year. Many assessments, predominantly occupational qualifications, were cancelled or delayed in spring and summer 2020 due to the measures put in place in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The trends seen in this year may have been affected as a result.
- More than half (59%) of all certificates awarded this year were in GCSE, AS, A levels. This is 8% higher than last year when the share of GCSE, AS, and A levels was nearly the same as vocational and technical qualifications.
- The awarding organisations with the largest market shares in academic year 2019 to 2020 were AQA (36%), Pearson (23%), City and Guilds (7%) and OCR (6%); the rest of the awarding organisations accounted for 28% market share.
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