- Higher grades across nine GCSE subjects could result in an
increase of more than £200,000 in lifetime earnings
- For the first time ever, a link has been established between
GCSE attainment and lifetime earnings
- Data will now be used to evidence new policy
Pupils who achieve higher grades at GCSE can expect to earn
significantly more over their lifetime, new government research
shows.
Those who perform just one GCSE grade better than their
counterparts across nine subjects have been shown to earn on
average over £200,000* more throughout their lives.
For the first time ever, statisticians and economists at the
Department for Education have established a direct link between
GCSE attainment and an increase in lifetime earnings after
tracking the earnings of more than two million people in England
over a 12 year period.
School Standards Minister said:
“We are taught from a young age to do well at school to better
our life chances, and today we see tangible, robust evidence to
support this.
“GCSEs equip young people with the knowledge and skills they need
to succeed and this data shows how small improvements to grades
can have a huge overall impact on people’s lives.”
The Department for Education reformed and strengthened GCSEs from
2011 to make sure the qualifications better prepare young people
for the demands of the workplace and higher study.
The reformed GCSEs encourage a deeper understanding of the
curriculum material and facilitate greater preparation for
further study, with all assessments normally taken at the end of
the course, rather than throughout via coursework.
The research looked at people in England who sat their GCSE exams
between 2002 and 2005 alongside earnings records and found that
those who achieved just one grade higher than their counterparts
in one subject saw an increase in their lifetime earnings by an
average of £23,000.
Those who secured one grade higher than their counterparts across
nine subjects are likely to earn on average £207,000 more in
their lifetime. The research, which took 18 months to develop,
will be pivotal in creating new policies going forward. For
example, when a new policy is developed to help pupils achieve
better GCSE grades, this data will be used to create a
quantitative, monetary value to evidence how a policy can affect
earnings outcomes.
As we build back better from the pandemic, the Government has
committed to an ambitious and long-term education recovery plan,
including an investment to date of over £3bn and a significant
expansion of our tutoring programme, which will include
supporting pupils completing GCSEs, to help children and young
people make up for learning lost during the pandemic.
