Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many entries there were for (1) GCSE, and (2) A level, in music for each of the past five years for which figures are available; and of these, how many entries were from (a) fee-paying schools, and (b) the maintained sector.

In 2022, the government published the national plan for music education to allow all children and young people in England the opportunity to progress their musical interests and talents, including professionally.

The plan addresses how the department will achieve this vision by 2030. This includes schools and academy trusts having clear approaches to supporting their pupils to progress with music beyond the age of 14, including opportunities to study music qualifications, such as graded exams, GCSEs, A levels and vocational and technical qualifications.

The number of pupils entering GCSE music in all state funded and independent institutions between the 2017/18 and 2021/22 academic years is available in the links below.

Data relating to GCSE entries in 2022/23 will be available in October 2023.

The number of pupils entering GCSE relates to those at the end of Key Stage 4.

The number of A level entries by pupils aged 16 to 18 in England in music since 2017/18 academic year can be found in the link below. The published data available includes a breakdown for state-funded pupils (those in state-funded schools and further education colleges) and all pupils (which additionally includes pupils in independent schools, hospital schools, Pupil Referral Units, and Alternative Provision). However, for A levels in music the difference in entries is almost entirely from independent schools.

Data relating to A level entries in 2022/23 will be available in November 2023.

The number of pupils entering GCSE music are available in the following links for each academic year:

• 2017/18: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F806278%2F2018_Revised_Subject_Tables.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK (see table S7a).
• 2018/19: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F863126%2F2019_Revised_KS4_Subject_data.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK (see table KS4 subject data)
• 2019/20: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f5cae452-3991-4e3b-448d-08dbb04e0e5c.
• 2020/21: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/fe5c98f1-c162-4f2e-4937-08dbb04c73a2.
• 2021/22:https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/26fd8ef3-ffda-4e4f-448e-08dbb04e0e5c.

The number of pupils entering A level music for academic years 2017/18 to 2021/22 is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/debe1398-86a0-4b07-5a7f-08dbb9ac4483.