French loses its place in top 10 most popular subjects at GCSE, while entries for chemistry, physics and biology rise GCSE results out today show a pass rate of 69%. Students receive their grades outside the Pimlico academy in central London.

French and other foreign languages have seen a dramatic decline in schools, GCSE results out today showed, as the numbers of pupils taking individual sciences has surged and the overall pass rate rose again to a record 69.1%.

Against a backdrop of increased pressure on university places and lobbying by business leaders to encourage the take-up of single sciences in schools, entries for chemistry and physics GCSE rose by 32%, while those for biology were up 28% this year.

The decline of French has been striking The number of students taking a language has dropped by a third since the government made them optional at GCSE six years ago. The decline of French has been striking; it has nearly halved to just over 170,000 entries compared with more than 300,000 in 2004, and fell out of the top 10 most popular subjects this year. More pupils choose to study geography and art for GCSE.

Spanish appears poised to overtake German at GCSE; with the numbers taking it rising to over 67,000 while German entries have fallen to around 70,000 this year. The numbers taking Mandarin, Portuguese and Polish have also risen, with the last thought to be fuelled by the increase in the number pupils who are children of recent Polish migrants.

About 690,000 pupils from England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their GCSE results today and the pass rate rose for the 23rd year in a row. The lecturers union the UCU today warned of a "domino effect" that could harm some teenagers' chances of continuing in further education. The union said a crisis in degree places could force out some of those who have traditionally turned to vocational qualifications at the age of 16.

More than 180,000 university hopefuls are still without a place, figures showed today. Ucas, the university admissions service, said 184,872 students were still in clearing, which matches spare university places to those without any offers or who have applied late.

This is 27% of the 676,256 who applied for undergraduate courses this autumn. This time last year, 138,506 students were in clearing out of the 612,947 who applied for a university place. Some 19,276 students have found a place in clearing, compared with 17,800 last year, and 9,018 have opted out of the system, compared with 7,318.

Today's results appear to show a sharper awareness of demand for single sciences both from universities and employers. Last year, the Confederation of British Industry said businesses should expect to offer golden handshakes to students who did science and engineering.

Almost 19% of students sat biology GCSE, while 17.5% took physics and 18% took chemistry. Last year, the proportion of students who took separate sciences rose, but less sharply. Andrew Hall, director general of the AQA exam board, said it was the first time "in living memory" that French was not in the top 10 most popular subjects.

Hall, who has a background working in engineering, said languages were still important for business although English is spoken widely. "You do need to be able to communicate with people in their own country in their own language," he said.

Ziggy Liaquat, managing director of the Edexcel exam board, said: "It's disappointing to see the decrease of languages." He said knowledge of languages was "very important" in the global market. "There is a conversation to be had about how we do make languages more engaging, more interesting, more relevant for young people."

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, urged ministers to ensure that all young people acquired at least one modern foreign language. She said: "Yet again, of real concern is the decline in the study of modern foreign languages, particularly French and German.

This was reflected in last week's A-level results. I find it extraordinary that French, which has for so long been core to the secondary curriculum, should now have dropped out of the top 10 GCSEs taken by young people."

Boys beat girls at GCSE maths for the second year in a row, following a decision to drop coursework in the subject.

The proportion of boys getting grades A* to C in maths rose again this year from 57.6% to 58.6%. The proportion of girls passing also rose, from 56.8% to 58.3%.

Boys did better than girls in biology, where the male pass rate was 93% compared with 92.7% for girls, and in physics, where 93.9% of boys passed compared with 93.4% of girls. Economics also saw a higher pass rate for boys, though only around 3,000 candidates of either sex entered.

Coursework was dropped for several GCSE subjects last September. It was replaced with "controlled assessment" - extended tasks sat under supervision with students allowed to consult notes. The decision to remove coursework was prompted by concerns about plagiarism, but it may also have an impact on the gender gap in education. From next year, 25% of marks in history and geography will come from controlled assessment, and 60% of marks in foreign languages, music and art.
The number of students taking religious studies has risen for the 12th year running, with more than 188,000 pupils taking it this year.

Nick McKemey, the Church of England's head of school improvement, said: "Young people are clamouring for a deeper understanding of religious perspectives on issues of the day and how moral and ethical questions are considered by the major faiths.

Schools minister Nick Gibb congratulated pupils on their results, but singled out the performance of academies. "A number of academies have achieved exceptional GCSE results, including English and maths in areas where standards have previously been too low. For example, the Harris Federation has seen a 10 percentage points increase across all their academies, and ARK Academies have seen a 13 percentage points increase - a remarkable achievement and an example of what is possible with freedom, independence and relentless focus on raising standards for all." -Guardian