Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of students in each ethnic group studied Art and Design at GCSE Level in the last 12 months.

The Department does not currently hold data on the subjects entered by pupils/students in the 2017/18 academic year. The Department will publish ethnicity (and other characteristic breakdowns) for GCSEs and A levels in January 2019.

The latest GCSE information held by the Department is the number of pupils[1], in state-funded schools, at the end of key stage 4, who entered GCSE (or equivalent) 'Applied Art and Design' and 'Art and Design'[2], for 2016/17[3], split by ethnicity[4].

The latest A level information held by the Department is published in the A level and other 16 to 18 results statistics[5]. This publication has the number of students entering A-level[6] Art and Design[7], split by ethnicity for 2016/17[8].

[1] Total number of entries include pupils who were absent, whose results are pending and results which are ungraded or unclassified.

[2] Discounting has been applied where pupils have taken the same subject more than once and only one entry is counted in these circumstances. Prior to 2014, best entry discounting, where the pupil’s best result is used was in place in performance tables. From 2014 onwards, first entry rules were introduced, where a pupil’s first entry in that subject is used in performance tables. For more information on discounting and early entry, see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-4-qualifications-discount-codes-and-point-scores.

[3] All figures are based on final data so will deviate from total entries figures published in the departments statistical release.

[4] Ethnicity is taken from the school census for that academic year.

[5] For 2016/17 - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results-2016-to-2017-revised (open the ‘A level exam results and A level and vocational participation csv’ and then the ‘A level subjects by characteristics’ file).

[6] Students, at the end of their 16-18 study, who entered A level Art and Design.

[7] Includes entries into A level Art and Design qualifications which are eligible for inclusion in performance tables. Where qualifications taken by a student are in the same subject area and similar in content, ‘discounting’ rules have been applied to avoid double counting qualifications.

[8] Figures are based on final data.

x = Figures not shown in order to protect confidentiality.