2023/24 qualifications and destinations of Northern Ireland school leavers
Date published:
New accredited official statistics published on the 29/05/2025 by NISRA statisticians in Department of Education indicate that 95.9% of 2023/24 school leavers were recorded by their school as entering Education, Employment or Training. When school type was considered, 97.5% of grammar school leavers and 94.8% of non-grammar school leavers were recorded as having these destinations.
In total, 40.3% of pupils leaving school in 2023/24 were reported as continuing to Institutions of Higher Education. At 48.1%, the proportion of females reporting as continuing to Institutions of Higher Education was higher than that for males which was recorded at 32.7%.
Given the alternative methods of awarding grades in 2019/20 and 2020/21, and the various assessment adaptations or other supports in place for 2021/22 and 2022/23, caution should be taken when drawing any conclusions relating to changes in student performance.
Year-on-year changes might have been impacted by the different processes for awarding qualifications in these years rather than reflect a change in underlying performance. As such, 2023/24 attainment levels have generally decreased since 2022/23, reflecting the return to pre-pandemic awarding arrangements.
Key Findings:
- At 87.4% in 2023/24, the proportion of school leavers achieving at least five GCSEs at grades A* to C or equivalent has decreased by 2.4 percentage points from 2022/23 (89.8%) but increased by 1.0 percentage point from five years ago (86.4% in 2018/19).
- The proportion of school leavers achieving at least five GCSEs at grades A* to C or equivalent including GCSE English and maths has decreased by 4.5 percentage points from 2022/23 (76.1%) but increased by 0.8 percentage points from 2018/19 (70.8%), to 71.6% in 2023/24.
- The proportion of free school meal entitled school leavers (FSME) achieving at least five GCSEs at grades A* to C or equivalent including GCSE English and maths has decreased by 4.7 percentage points from 56.5% in 2022/23 to 51.8% in 2023/24.
- The proportion of school leavers achieving three or more A-levels at grades A* to C or equivalent was 38.5% in 2023/24, which is a decrease of 3.6 percentage points from 2022/23 (42.1%) and a decrease of 2.5 percentage points from five years ago (41.0% in 2018/19).
- The proportion of school leavers continuing to Institutions of Higher Education has decreased by 1.7 percentage points, from 42.0% in 2018/19 to 40.3% in 2023/24.
- The proportion of school leavers reported as entering employment has increased by 1 percentage point from 10.3% in 2018/19 to 11.3% in 2023/24.
About the Publication:
This statistical bulletin presents an analysis of the GCSE and A-level qualifications which is further broken into four sections namely sex, religion, free school meal entitlement and special educational needs.
In addition, this statistical bulletin also presents an analysis of the destinations of pupils leaving post-primary schools in 2023/24.
Further Information:
Read the full HTML version report: Qualifications and Destinations of Northern Ireland School Leavers
Publication page including all associated documents and tables: School Leavers 2023/24 | Department of Education