T-levels: top grades ticked up after two years of decline. 7.3% of Core exam entries got an A or A* (vs 4.0% last year), and 18.1% got an overall Distinction or above (vs 16.1%). Still below the tiny first cohort's inflated rates, but entries have nearly doubled to ~20,000 students since then.

Is this is about a shrinking pool of boys taking A-levels? It isn't: male entries have grown faster than female entries since 2019 (+21.6% vs +13.7%); boys are now a larger share of the cohort (46.4% vs 44.7% in 2019). Subject choices could also be important, but we haven't explored this.

Gender: boys now lead girls by 1.0 points at A* (10.2% vs 9.2%) – the widest gap since 2019. Girls still lead on C-and-above, but that lead has narrowed from 3.9 points (2019) to 2.9 points this year.

Region: pre-COVID the biggest regional gap was 7 points (South East vs East Midlands, 2019). This year it's 9.5 points – London (32.6%) vs the North East and East Midlands, now tied lowest (23.1% each). London has overtaken the South East as the top-performing region every year since the pandemic.

School type: the gap keeps widening. Independent/private schools hit 48.9% A-or-above this year (43.9% in 2019). FE colleges: just 13.1%, actually down from 14.6% in 2019. That's a 35.8-point gap, up from 29.3 points pre-pandemic.

A-level and other Level 3 qualification results are out with a lot of focus on top grades rising again: 28.3% of entries got an A or above (28.2% in 2025, 25.2% in 2019), and 78.1% got a C or above. But results aren't equally good news for everyone.

Huge thanks to all of you who attended our CEPEO annual lecture last week, delivered by Prof Brian A. Jacob. Just days after England's schools officially became "mobile free by default", there was no better time to hear some of the evidence on the effects of phone bans in schools in the US.

We are excited to announce the next ECHILD Seminar Series to take place online on 9th June 2026, 11:00 to 12:00. Title: What can we learn from the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) within ECHILD? Featuring @cepeo-ucl.bsky.social experts Register: www.ticketsource.com/ucl-institut... Or scan:

Save the date! CEPEO's very own @laouthwaite.bsky.social will be sharing her research on use of the EYFS to identify additional educational needs. 📅11 June 🕒 3pm Join us in person (Room 915, 20 Bedford Way, WC1H 0AP) or use the link below to register for the webinar: ucl.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Iteration 2.1 of the LEO dataset (which brings together education and employment/earnings data in England) is now available and earnings and benefits data are now available up until 2023/24 (up to age 37 for the oldest cohort). Find out more and get access details here: www.gov.uk/government/p...

We're hiring! Come and work for us as Centre Manager... You'll lead the management of CEPEO with respect to personnel and financial functions. We're looking for experience in a complex administrative role and managing large financial budgets. Find out more and apply: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

We’re in Westminster today for the launch of our @nuffieldfoundation.org funded work on mismatch and education outcomes, looking at what we can learn from the Covid period with @edupolicyinst.bsky.social Our DD @gillwyness.bsky.social is on a great panel discussing this important research

📢📢 interested in doing research on youth transitions using adminstrative data? 📢📢 join our very own @jakeanders.uk who will be giving a practical introduction to exactly that next tuesday (14/04) online sign up for the webinar here: zoom.us/webinar/regi... @adruk.bsky.social community catalyst

The government has announced a cap of 6% interest on plan 2 and 3 student loan interest ahead of the publication of the March RPI inflation figure, which is used to set interest rates for the following academic year. Who will benefit? [1/5]

Around 1 in 7 23 year-olds were not in education, employment or training in 2023. Important new analysis from @clscohorts.bsky.social including contributions from our own @lindseymacmillan.bsky.social and @dominicpkelly.bsky.social cls.ucl.ac.uk/briefings_im...

Next week we're excited to be hosting Dr Matt Easterbrook in our winter seminar series. Make sure you register your place... 👇 ucl.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Sessions will cover the consequences of DEI for business, disparities in promotion likelihood, gender diversity and business performance and mismatch in HE course choice

Learn more about academic research relating to diversity and productivity in education and employment in this free workshop featuring presentations from CEPEO's @paul-ed-martin.bsky.social and @gillwyness.bsky.social Register here today: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/diversity-...

Less than two weeks to go now until our online training course where you can learn more about using the LEO dataset, which links education and earnings data. 📅Mon 23rd Mar 9.30am to Tues 24th Mar 11.30am Sign up here 👇 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cepeo-adru...

Join us this week for the next instalment of the CEPEO seminar series. Dr David Blazar will share his research on the evaluation of a "Grow-Your-Own" teacher recruitment programme in Maryland. 🕒Thu 12th Mar, 3-4pm 📍Online or at B06, Drayton House, WC1H 0AX Sign up: ucl.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

We're delighted to have Prof Felix Weinhardt giving the @cepeo-ucl.bsky.social seminar this Thursday! He'll discuss biases introduced when randomising across schools/regions and what we can do about them! 🕕3-4pm Thur 5th Mar 📍Online or in-person (219, 26 Bedford Way) Sign up: tinyurl.com/yanfx8j7

We're delighted to have @ckfarquharson.bsky.social giving the @cepeo-ucl.bsky.social seminar next week! She'll be talking about her work estimating the impact of Sure Start on education, health and more. 🕕3-4pm Thurs 5th Feb 📍Online or in-person (541, 20 Bedford Way) Sign up: tinyurl.com/yanfx8j7

❄️Our winter seminar series kicks off next week, with the excellent @hettieburn.bsky.social ❄️ She will be talking about her work on play based learning in early childhood 3pm on Thursday 22nd January sign up below: ucl.zoom.us/webinar/regi... #winterofnewcontent

Our popular seminar series is back for 2026! Join us to hear some of the latest cutting-edge research, and get the chance to have your questions answered. For updates on the seminars and links to register, make sure you've signed up to our mailing list 👇 ucl.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=...

Want to learn more about using the National Pupil Database, from experienced CEPEO researchers? Sign up for one (or both!) of our free courses this February... Online, Feb 10-11th: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cepeo-adru... In person (central London), Feb 25th: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cepeo-adru...

We've battled the weather to kickstart the new year with a very well attended workshop on using UCAS data to better understand HE transitions. Well done everyone for making it! And thanks to DfE and @adruk.bsky.social for support. Watch this space for our next training courses coming soon . . .

In our latest CEPEO Working Paper, @drsamsims.bsky.social studies the effects of an intervention to improve A level physics uptake among female students by countering gender stereotypes. Read the results here: econpapers.repec.org/paper/uclcep...

Happy New Year! As we begin 2026, don't miss our latest Impact Report which celebrates some of our biggest achievements from 2025, download here: 👇 discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10...

🎄 CEPEO Xmas Seminar 🎄 Human Capital Spillovers in the United Kingdom 🗣️ Dr Fabien Petit (University of Barcelona) 📍 Room G06A, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP 🗓️ Thursday 11 December ⏰ 2 pm (UK time) 🔗 Register here: ucl.zoom.us/webinar/regi... #CEPEOSeminarSeries

There's still time to register for this week's CEPEO seminar! We are hosting Dr Judith Delaney from University of Bath who will presenting work on the effect of university grade inflation on graduate outcomes REGISTER NOW: ucl.zoom.us/webinar/regi...