The truth is out there...

GCSE results are out today, spelling the end of weeks of waiting for UK students.

That's unless they live in Northern Ireland, where some will have to wait until Wednesday for their grades, unless they are one of the 25,000 students who sat papers with the NI examination board, CCEA, who received their results on Tuesday.

And now for the inevitable question: are they getting easier?

Grades have improved again this year according to the Joint Council for Qualifications, with the overall pass rate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland now 98.1%.

According to the Guardian, errors in GCSE marking rose by nearly 13% last year. It also points out that fewer pupils are studying modern foreign languages but good GCSE passes in mathematics and English rose slightly this year.

Hold on! says the Sun, claiming today's record GCSE results mask a slump in Maths and English standards, with about 75,000 students expected to gain five top-grade passes without the two core subjects.

The Mirror also highlights renewed concerns that exams have become easier and that children are taking fewer 'hard' subjects. The Telegraph laments the move away from foreign languages too, with the danger of creating a 'linugistic elite' if only the brightest students choose to study them.

Girls are getting the better grades, the Times says, but asks why they still lag behind the boys in terms of pay and promotion once their school days are over.

Schools should limit the number of GCSEs taken, according to a story in the Independent, and the relevance of the whole shebang is called into question by the Daily Mail which quotes the Government's exam watchdog's remark that 'pupils should skip GCSEs if their schools think they are a waste of time'.

But, as any parent who has shared the anxious wait with their teenager knows, this year's students will have worked hard for their grades despite any controversy surrounding the syllabus. A big 'congratulations' to you all from the Raisingkids Team!

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