Maths A-level results add up to better news for Wales

Wales is far ahead in further maths

The A-level results have given us a chance to see how Wales fares against England and Northern Ireland.

Scotland has its own exam system.

Overall, 7.3% of pupils here achieved an A* grade, an improvement on last year but still a fair bit behind the UK-wide 8.2% rate.

At the same time, 23.1% of A-level results here were in the A*/A category, compared to the UK-wide 25.9%.

But the overall figures hide the relative success and failures of different subjects in Wales and elsewhere.

For example, in maths and further maths, Wales is ahead of the rest of the UK.

In maths, still the most popular A-level subject in Wales, 43.3% of pupils received an A* or A, compared with 41.7% in the rest of the UK.

But when we look at further mathematics in Wales, 63.8% got the top two grades compared with just 56.3% in the UK.

And at A*, Wales' 45.5% is miles ahead of the UK-wide 29%.

The Welsh government has put a lot more emphasis on numeracy over the past few years, but it is unlikely there has been enough time for that to trickle through to A-level results.

Earlier this year, maths teachers from across Wales were invited to a maths summit in Cardiff and told, basically, to up their collective game.

Education Minister Huw Lewis then said there was collective appetite and enthusiasm to improve results, but progress was not happening as quickly as it needed to.

But I doubt that conference would have had an effect on this year's results.

Perhaps the combined extra pressure has started to pay dividends.

If we look at other popular subjects such as English and history, we see results in Wales lag behind the rest of the UK.

A summit of maths teachers was told progress was not happening as quickly as it needed to

In English, 16.7% of pupils managed an A* or A grade in Wales compared to 19.4% UK-wide, while in history Wales lagged behind with 20.8% compared to 24.2%.

For the sciences it is a bit of a mixed bag:

• In biology, Wales is behind at A*-A by 23.9% compared to 27.1% elsewhere

• In chemistry, Wales is ahead by 33.9% to 32.4%

• Wales is behind in physics by 28% to 30.4% for gaining the top two grades

Where there might be more cause for concern is at modern foreign languages.

In French, the UK-wide picture tells us that 37.3% of students got either an A* or a A in their exams.

But the figure for Wales was just 25.9%.

The gap is even wider in German; the UK-wide picture saw 39.1% get the top grades while the same is true of just 22.3% of pupils in Wales.

While the gap is slightly narrower for Spanish, it still does not make for comfortable reading in Wales.

28.3% of pupils studying the subject here got an A* or A while the UK-wide picture is 35%.

I have reported several times about concerns that modern languages are being squeezed out of the curriculum, underfunded and ignored.

Mr Lewis has announced plans for pupils in Wales to learn a foreign language at primary school.

That might address any problems in the longer term, but will not solve the current issues.