The 2016 A Level results, published today by the Joint Council for Qualifications, see geography consolidate last year’s significant increase in A Level candidate numbers.
Despite an overall smaller student cohort causing a 2% drop in candidates, the 2016 results shows geography to have cemented last year’s jump in numbers, with 36,363 students in England, Wales and NI (32,765 England) sitting a geography A Level.
Geography is now the 7th most popular subject choice at AS level (moving up from 10th in 2015), with 54,866 UK candidates in England, Wales and NI (50,106 England).
Commenting on the 2016 A Level results, the Society’s Director, Dr Rita Gardner CBE, said:
“The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) is delighted that geography has consolidated the significant increase in A Level candidates that the subject saw last year.
“Geography is currently benefitting from growing recognition from both students and employers of the broad skillset it provides and the subject’s engagement with some the most pressing issues in the world today. However, the hard work of teachers, and geography’s position as a facilitating subject have also been crucial to its sustained popularity.”