Northern Ireland pupils continue to perform at GCSE level
Northern Ireland pupils continue to perform well in their GCSEs as demonstrated by small rises across the grades this year.
The proportion of entries awarded A* - C grades has risen by 0.4% this year to 79.1%.
Entries achieving A* - A have improved 0.5 percentage points to 29.1%, and entries achieving the top A* grade now sit at 9.3%, a slight rise of 0.3 percentage points on 2015.
The figures have been released by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQCIC) on Thursday.
Across the UK the proportion of candidates getting a C grade or above has actually fallen to the lowest level for almost 10 years.
Those candidates achieving A* to C declined by 2.1% to 66.9%.
In GCSE English, A* - C:performance rose by two per cent to 77.8% of entries in 2016.- In Mathematics, A* - C:** performance fell by 1.7% to 64.9% of entries. At age 16 the performance was stable at 68.4%, with a small decline of 0.2 percentage points compared to 2015.
Sciences: A* - C performance in Biology rising 0.6 percentage points to 92.2% of entries, Chemistry up 0.1 percentage points to 93.6 of entries, and Physics up 0.3 percentage points to 95.9% of entries.
Females continue to perform better than males in GCSE examinations, with the gap at A* to C widening marginally by 0.5% to 7.6%.
Just under 83% of girls sitting GCSEs gained A* - C grades, up 0.7% on last year. Of those boys sitting their exams, just over 75% gained A* - C grades, an improvement of 0.2%.
The total number of entries in GCSE examinations in Northern Ireland fell from 171,325 in 2015 to 161,975 in 2016, a drop of 5.5%. The entry decline was anticipated, given the 5% drop in pupil numbers.
Entries for STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) have grown by 0.3% in Northern Ireland. This growth means STEM subjects here account for close to one third (31.9%) of all GCSE entries.
The increase in STEM entries is being driven by Biology (up 3.4%), Chemistry (up 1.7%) and Computing (up 106%). There were decreases in the percentage of the overall entry taking Design and Technology (down 7.7%), ICT (down 4.6%) and Physics (down 3%).
Languages entries have declined by 3.7% in Northern Ireland. French entries declined by 6.4%, Spanish entries declined by 3.8% and Irish entries decreased by 4%. German increased by 11.3%.