The SHAPE Indicators dashboard provides data on annual entries for SHAPE subjects for GCSEs and A levels in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as National 5s, Highers and Advanced Highers in Scotland.
The dashboard is best viewed on desktop. Information on how to use the dashboard, on the underlying data and on related British Academy policy work, is included below.
About the Indicators
The Indicators sit within the British Academy’s SHAPE Observatory. The Observatory monitors the SHAPE (Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts for People and the Economy) disciplines and acts as a resource with which we can better understand and champion our disciplines.
The Indicators allow users to identify trends in uptake of SHAPE disciplines. They are a data and evidence resource and, importantly, they do not provide analysis of the reasons behind increasing or decreasing entries. Users should look to other resources on the 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.
This page comprises a dashboard that allows users to interact directly with data for both overall and subject-level entry trends in the study of SHAPE disciplines in UK secondary and post-16 education over the past decade.
The second panel of the dashboard provides data on GCSE (usually taken by 16-year-olds at the end of secondary education) and A level (usually taken by 18-year-olds at the end of post-16 education) entries in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.
The third panel provides data on National 5s (usually taken by students in the Senior Phase S4-S6, ages 15-17), Highers and Advanced Highers (usually taken by students in the Senior Phase S5-6, aged 16-18) in Scotland. Both panels are updated annually as soon as results are published.
Refer to the user guide below for more information on how to use the dashboard, further specifications on data and sources, and access to a more granular database to explore subject groupings and additional measures.
User guide
The dashboard shows both the number of total entries to SHAPE disciplines (the left-hand Y axes) and the percentage share of all entries (the right-hand Y axes).
‘Entries’ refers to the number of people who have been entered for exams in each subject by their school or college. They do not show qualifications received and thus the dashboard measures cohort interest in a subject rather than ability.
The user can view the data for a particular year by selecting the appropriate bar on the dashboard – the visual cards at the top of the dashboard provide details of number of entries, share of all entries and changes to share of entries over certain intervals. The default setting is the most recent one-year and the most immediate past five-year period.
The first set of dropdown controls in both panels allows filtering by qualification level. The second dropdown control in the GCSE and A level panel allows filtering by country, displaying information from England, Northern Ireland, Wales and a combined total (this includes the small number studying GCSEs or A levels outside England, Northern Ireland and Wales). The final set of dropdown controls in both panels allows filtering by three subject groups (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences) and by individual subjects (eg Drama, French, Geography). The ‘Other’ tab shows aggregated entries for all non-SHAPE disciplines.
For further information on both panels, you can download a database with the subject-level data and figures, to view the subject groupings and explore further measures, including the percentage change in absolute entries for each subject over the past year and most immediate five years.
Qualification changes
GCSEs and A levels
Reflecting the curriculum changes to A levels taught from autumn 2015, entries under the subject title English before 2017 are reported under the titles of the three relevant A levels (English Language, English Literature and English Literature and Language) from 2017.
Entries under the subject title Welsh are reported under the titles of the two relevant A levels (Welsh First Language, Welsh Second Language) from 2017.
As a result of curriculum changes, a number of qualifications have been withdrawn in recent years. These include Critical Thinking A level and Humanities GCSE as well as smaller qualifications withdrawn due to overlapping content with other qualifications.
These changes account for the fall to zero or relevant drops in entries to some subjects on the dashboard. In 2015, Ofqual produced a list of planned qualifications to be withdrawn in England, alongside timings, which provides further details.
National 5s, Highers and Advanced Highers
The base years for each qualification in this panel reflect the incremental introduction of new and revised qualifications at these levels in the mid-2010s.
National 5 qualifications were introduced for the 2013-14 academic year, with National 4 and National 5 qualifications replacing Standard Grades. Entries reported under the subject title Chinese Languages include Cantonese, Mandarin (Simplified) and Mandarin (Traditional). Entries reported under Geography, History and Modern Studies include both English and Gaelic provision.
New Scottish Higher qualifications were assessed for the first time in 2015. While assessment for 'new' and 'old' Highers simultaneously took place in 2015, these dashboards only include 'new' Highers data for 2015. Revised Advanced Highers were assessed for the first time in 2016. Entries reported under the subject title Chinese Languages include Cantonese, Mandarin (Simplified) and Mandarin (Traditional).
Related work
The British Academy’s 'Subject choice trends in post-16 education in England' report further complements this resource, providing analysis on trends in the combinations of subject choice made by students taking A level or level 3 qualifications in England.
Our 'Studying SHAPE' report from 2022 complements this resource and provides expanded commentary and analysis on the entry trends for social sciences and humanities subjects in secondary and post-16 education.
Our State of the Discipline reports, including most recently 'Media, Screen, Journalism and Communication Studies' (2024) and 'English Studies' (2023), provide in-depth analysis of trends in specific SHAPE disciplines.
Together, this work comprises part of the Academy's SHAPE Observatory, monitoring the health of the SHAPE disciplines and providing a valuable resource for all interested in understanding the humanities and social sciences landscape in the UK.
Future work
Additional data indicators providing objective information on the health of SHAPE disciplines will continue to be added to this resource.
The next phase of the SHAPE Indicators work will provide data on trends in SHAPE subjects in higher education.