Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether students who take drama as a GCSE subject perform better against the Progress 8 measure than students who do not take drama as a GCSE subject.

Pupils who take drama have higher progress 8 scores. This may not be the result of taking drama and may be the result of taking more GCSEs. The average progress 8[1] scores of pupils in state funded schools[2], at the end of key stage 4[3], split by whether they entered a GCSE or equivalent qualification in drama[4], are presented in the tables below.

1. Progress 8 is a new measure which schools and pupils are still adjusting to and with the ongoing transition to reformed GCSE’s, it is expected that Progress 8 scores will be prone to fluctuations initially. Progress 8 is a measure which focuses on each pupil’s ‘starting point’ (key stage 2 attainment) and the progress they make, therefore more analysis is required to unpick which, if any, factors have a definitive influence on these scores. With data for only two years, it is too soon to draw conclusions. More information on Progress 8 is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/659860/Secondary_accountability_measures_guide.pdf.
2. State-funded schools include academies, free schools, city technology colleges, further education colleges with provision for 14- to 16-year-olds and state-funded special schools. They exclude independent schools, independent special schools, non-maintained special schools, hospital schools, pupil referral units and alternative provision.
3. Pupils are identified as being at the end of key stage 4 if they were on roll at the school and in year 11 at the time of the January school census for that year. Age is calculated as at 31 August for that year, and the majority of pupils at the end of key stage 4 were age 15 at the start of the academic year. Some pupils may complete this key stage in an earlier or later year group.
4. Pupils are recorded as ‘entering drama’ if they sat at least one exam in any drama qualification which is counted in the secondary school performance tables as a GCSE, equivalent or graded drama qualification.
5. 2015/16 data is final; 2016/17 data is provisional.
6. Progress 8 scores are estimates and the confidence intervals provide the likely bounds of the true score. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/659860/Secondary_accountability_measures_guide.pdf. There are also significantly fewer pupils entering drama than those who do not, this can lead to undue influence by outliers in the smaller cohort and it is not advised to draw definitive conclusions when the data is mismatched in this way.