Secondary and post-16 subject trends
A dashboard showing long-term uptake trends in subject entries across UK’s main secondary and post-16 qualifications.
SHAPE disciplines (Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy) are central to the UK education system. In 2025, they made up 54% of GCSE entries and 59% of A level entries, while for the 2024/25 academic year around 56% of UK-domiciled undergraduates were enrolled in SHAPE degrees. These figures highlight the scale and importance of SHAPE across education pathways and provide the context for exploring how uptake changes over time and across the UK.
The Secondary and post-16 subject trends dashboard shows long-term uptake trends in subject entries across UK’s main secondary and post-16 qualifications. This dashboard includes data on:
- GCSE and A level in England, Northern Ireland and Wales
- National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications in Scotland
For the best experience, we recommend viewing on desktop. If you have questions about how to use the tool or how to interpret the figures, please see the guidance below.
For more detailed analysis, you can download the complete dataset for each qualification.
About the dashboard
The Secondary and post-16 subject trends dashboard is part of the British Academy’s SHAPE Observatory and provides a tool to explore trends in subject entries across secondary and post-16 qualifications in the UK. These include:
- GCSE (usually taken by 16-year-olds at the end of secondary education in England, Northern Ireland and Wales). Data for GCSEs is published and collected by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ).
- A level (usually taken by 18-year-olds at the end of post-16 education in England, Northern Ireland and Wales). Data for A levels is also published and collected by JCQ.
- Scottish Qualifications: National 5 (usually taken by students in the Senior Phase S4–S6, ages 15–17), and Higher and Advanced Higher (usually taken by students in the Senior Phase S5–S6, aged 16–18) in Scotland. Data for Scottish qualifications is published and collected by Qualifications Scotland.
The dashboard also includes a Rankings page, ranking A level, Higher and Advanced Higher subjects by the number of exam entries in a selected year, back to 2015, when new Scottish Highers were first taken, as well as a series of A level reforms. Users can also view a ranking of subjects by percentage change over time (e.g. which subject has had the largest percentage increase over a specified time frame).
These rankings are intended as a way to explore patterns in subject entries over time. They should therefore be read as indicators of subject uptake, rather than definitive rankings of student preference, as entry numbers can be affected by qualification structures, subject availability and reporting changes.
The dashboard focuses on the SHAPE disciplines and provides tools to explore uptake across subjects, qualifications and time. For comparison purposes, other disciplines are grouped under a single ‘STEM & other subjects' category.
Each tab offers interactive filters and allows you to toggle between total entries and sex distribution for A level and GCSE, as well as whether to view the data in absolute numbers or percentage terms. When viewing data by nation, note that percentages represent the proportion of entries within that nation only, not across the whole UK.
The dashboard allows users to identify trends in the uptake of SHAPE disciplines, showing how participation changes over time and varies across different qualifications. The dashboard is a data and evidence resource. It does not provide analysis of the reasons behind increasing or decreasing entries. Users should look to other resources on the SHAPE Observatory for in-depth analyses of disciplinary changes, such as our State of the Discipline reports and for a wider view to the Subject choice trends in post-16 education in England report.
How to use the dashboard
This dashboard provides trends for GCSE, A level, National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications through a series of interactive visualisations. Cards at the top of each page summarise the most recent (or selected) year's entries or proportion of all entries, along with one-year and five-year changes. The dashboard defaults to the most recent year of data. You can hover over each card to see a short explanation of what the figure represents.
You can tailor your view using these filters:
- Year: in the GCSE and A level panels, use the slider to adjust the time period displayed. You can narrow or expand the timeline to focus on particular ranges between 2004 and 2026.
- Qualification level: for Scottish qualifications, select National 5, Higher, or Advanced Higher.
- Country: select England, Northern Ireland, Wales or the entire UK in the GCSE and A level panels.
- Subjects: select SHAPE subject groupings (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences) or drill down to individual subjects such as Drama, French, or Geography. The 'STEM & Other Subjects’ category aggregates all non‑SHAPE disciplines.
The Rankings page enables users to rank A level, Higher or Advanced Higher subjects by the number of students entered for exams in each subject in the selected ranking year (selected using the Ranking year filter) and also by percentage change over a specified time frame, in separate visualisations.
The Rankings page includes an option to view just SHAPE subjects, or to view All subjects, as well as to filter by country (England, Northern Ireland, Wales and the whole UK) when the A levels view is selected.
The data shown in the dashboard refers to entries, not individual students. In most cases, one student enters multiple subjects in a single year (e.g. a student may sit 8–10 GCSEs). Therefore:
- Entry numbers represent subject-level choices, not headcounts.
- These indicators track participation, not performance or attainment.