General Certificate of Secondary Education

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what were the 10 subjects most frequently studied to GCSE level in each category of school in the last period for which figures are available; and how many students studied each subject. (181033)

The following tables show the 10 subjects most studied to GCSE level in 2007 for each type of school. Numbers and percentages are provided. The overall figures for England are also included. National figures for all subjects can be found in the SFR “GCSE and Equivalent Examination Results in England 2006/07 (Revised)”, available at

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000768/index.shtml.

*GCSE attempts and achievements*¹ *in selected subjects of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4*² *in schools (number), years: 2006/07*³ *(Revised), coverage: England*
		Community School
	Subject	Number of attempts	Percentage of pupils attempting subject
1	Mathematics	360,675	97
2	English	356,159	96
3	English Literature	294,772	80
4	Double Award Science	255,995	69
5	History	107,743	29
6	Art and Design	107,229	29
7	Geography	98,035	27
8	Physical Education	93,794	25
9	French	90,271	24
10	Drama	59,578	16

*Voluntary Aided School*
	Subject	Number of attempts	Percentage of pupils attempting subject
1	Mathematics	83,579	98
2	English	83,085	98
3	English Literature	71,981	85
4	Religious Studies	62,959	74
5	Double Award Science	60,038	71
6	History	28,852	34
7	French	28,532	34
8	Geography	25,212	30
9	Art and Design	22,505	26
10	Physical Education	20,453	24

*Voluntary Controlled School*
	Subject	Number of attempts	Percentage of pupils attempting subject
1	Mathematics	19,142	98
2	English	18,983	98
3	English Literature	16,725	86
4	Double Award Science	13,960	72
5	French	6,718	35
6	History	6,018	31
7	Art and Design	5,871	30
8	Geography	5,721	29
9	Physical Education	5,202	27
10	Business Studies	3,510	18

*Foundation School*
	Subject	Number of attempts	Percentage of pupils attempting subject
1	Mathematics	106,591	98
2	English	105,895	98
3	English Literature	91,998	85
4	Double Award Science	74,413	69
5	History	35,715	33
6	French	33,681	31
7	Geography	32,324	30
8	Art and Design	31,425	29
9	Physical Education	27,457	25
10	Religious Studies	19,062	18

*City Technology College*
	Subject	Number of attempts	Percentage of pupils attempting subject
1	Mathematics	1,744	100
2	English	1,743	100
3	English Literature	1,596	92
4	Double Award Science	770	44
5	French	709	41
6	History	622	36
7	Geography	581	33
8	Physical Education	480	28
9	Business Studies	457	26
10	Art and Design	427	25

*Academy*
	Subject	Number of attempts	Percentage of pupils attempting subject
1	Mathematics	6,141	96
2	English	6,036	94
3	English Literature	4,566	71
4	Double Award Science	3,494	55
5	Art and Design	1,530	24
6	Single Award Science	1,361	21
7	History	1,225	19
8	Religious Studies	1,072	17
9	Physical Education	1,033	16
10	Geography	963	15

*Community Special School*
	Subject	Number of attempts	Percentage of pupils attempting subject
1	Mathematics	2,098	22
2	Art and Design	1,421	15
3	Single Award Science	1,281	13
4	English	1,164	12
5	D & T: Resistant Materials	294	3
6	English Literature	218	2
7	Drama	175	2
8	Double Award Science	153	2
9	Physical Education	135	1
10	Information Technology⁴	128	1

*Foundation Special School*
	Subject	Number of attempts	Percentage of pupils attempting subject
1	English	79	34
2	Mathematics	54	23
3	Single Award Science	48	21
4	Art and Design	44	19
5	English Literature	23	10
6	Geography	23	10
7	Drama	7	3
8	Double Award Science	⁵—	⁶—
9	N/A	N/A	N/A
10	N/A	N/A	N/A

*Non Maintained Special School*
	Subject	Number of attempts	Percentage of pupils attempting subject
1	Mathematics	247	39
2	English	178	28
3	Art and Design	172	27
4	Single Award Science	145	23
5	Double Award Science	64	10
6	D & T: Resistant Materials	62	10
7	English Literature	54	9
8	French	54	9
9	History	40	6
10	Geography	25	4

*Independent Special School*
	Subject	Number of attempts	Percentage of pupils attempting subject
1	Mathematics	432	59
2	English	363	50
3	Single Award Science	235	32
4	Art and Design	234	32
5	D & T: Resistant Materials	147	20
6	Double Award Science	145	20
7	Geography	88	12
8	English Literature	79	11
9	Physical Education	65	9
10	History	62	8

*Independent Schools*
	Subject	Number of attempts	Percentage of pupils attempting subject
1	English	43,506	93
2	English Literature	40,066	86
3	Mathematics	33,484	72
4	French	28,778	62
5	Double Award Science	25,583	55
6	History	23,875	51
7	Geography	21,858	47
8	Biological Sciences	15,423	33
9	Art and Design	15,003	32
10	Chemistry	14,326	31

*All Schools*
	Subject	Number of attempts	Percentage of pupils attempting subject
1	English	619,481	95
2	Mathematics	616,890	95
3	English Literature	522,446	80
4	Double Award Science	434,779	67
5	History	204,251	31
6	French	189,740	29
7	Art and Design	186,483	29
8	Geography	184,978	28
9	Physical Education	155,510	24
10	Religious Studies	155,249	24
¹ For each subject only one attempt is counted - that which achieved the highest grade. ² Pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in the 2006/07 academic year. ³ Includes attempts and achievements by these pupils in previous academic years. ⁴ Also includes Computer Studies, Information Systems and any combined syllabus of which Information Technology is the major part. ⁵ Less than 5 pupils. ⁶ Percentage based on a figure less than 5.

Volume 471: debated on Wednesday 30 January 2008