Paul Givan visited Dromore High School as pupils received their results
Stormont Education Minister Paul Givan has expressed concern at the “persistent gap” in girls outperforming boys at GCSE level.
The percentage of top GSCE grades awarded in Northern Ireland has increased slightly overall, with some 31.7% of entries achieving A and A* grades compared with 31.6% in 2025.
The percentage was 30.5% in 2019, the year before the pandemic.
Female students continue to outperform males, with the gap at the top grade level increasing slightly this year.
The percentage of females achieving grades A and A* was 36.2% – up from 36.1% in 2025 – while the percentage of males securing top grades was 26.8% – down from 26.9% last year.
Mr Givan visited Dromore High School as pupils received their results, and he said many families will “be celebrating” success but for those who “didn’t get the results that they wanted, and there will be support there to help them”.
Highlighting the grades in Northern Ireland, he said: “We have 31.7% have got an A* to A grade, and that is a very marginal increase, only 0.1%, so it shows a consistency in terms of those who receive the top grades and similarly, at 82.7% having got A* to C grade, and that again is a 0.1% increase.
“In comparison to England and Wales, it is around 16% higher than England and 20% higher than Wales; that shows that Northern Ireland continues to outperform the rest of the United Kingdom.”
He added: “Some of the interesting aspects of these results show there’s still a gap between girls outperforming boys at the very top level at that A/A* grade. There’s a gap of nearly 10%, that’s something that would concern me, but boys have narrowed the gap.
“Whenever we look at the ticket rates between A* to C, that gap is reduced from 4.6% last year to now 4.2%
“But it is something that I want to take away and look at again to say why is this persistent gap between girls outperforming boys materialising, and that does have an impact when it comes to the number of boys who then go on to enter into A-levels or BTech qualifications, and there are more girls who continue further education, and we need more men, particularly, to do that.”
The principal of Dromore High School, Ian McConaghy, said the results had “gone extremely well today” and said “there’s a lot of happiness, a lot of joy, people are very happy with the results”.
Mr McConaghy said the gender gap at GCSE “has been a historical thing” that “does still persist”.
“There’s continued work going on both in our school and in and across many schools to address that gap, it’s not to say that there aren’t boys who are successful, but on the whole, we’d be looking for an improvement for that particular aspect,” he said.
Faith Gamble and Lily Cantley, students at Dromore, said they were “very nervous” to open their results, but felt “amazing” with their achievements.
Ms Cantley said exam season was “very stressful, especially having like three exams over the three days altogether it was not the best.
“We were all definitely very stressed, but definitely glad it is over.”
In the English language GCSE, around a quarter of entries gained top A grades – 25.4%. This was up slightly on the 25.1% last year.
In maths, the percentage achieving A grades was 27.1% – no change on 2025.
More than 32,000 students across the region received their results on Thursday morning.
Brendan McComb, principal of St Mary’s Christian Brothers’ Grammar School, Belfast, said he is “incredibly proud” of their staff and students.
“We’ve achieved a fantastic set of results,” he said.
“This year group that has got the results today, they’re a special year group because they did not complete the transfer test. We’re an academic selective school, but this was a non-selective year group.
“We’ve achieved 72% seven A* to C including maths and English, and 85% five A* to C including maths and English.
“So it really is a testament to pupils, their parents, and our entire school community.”
As the headteacher of an all-boys school, Mr McComb said the gender gap in attainment is “a huge challenge”.
“Boys and girls are different, we know that,” he said.
“I’ve been here 19 years, so accustomed only to really teaching boys and dealing with the boys, but I can only speak for our boys and our experience of our boys, and our boys are incredible, they’re fantastic, and they can only achieve what they’re capable of achieving.”
Kealan McCrea and Andy Yu Xuan were two of the school’s highest achievers, with Kealan achieving nine A*s and four As, and Andy, three A*s and 11 As – totalling 27 GCSEs between them.
Kealan said the “first exam was really hard, but after a while, I got into it, but some of the exams were really tricky”.
Asked about their timetables, Kealan said: “We only had 12 subjects in our actual timetable, and then we ended up having to do art after school, and then (Andy’s) 14th was Chinese, and he had to do that outside of school entirely.”
Ethan Rillon and Ruby Duff, students from Hazelwood Integrated College Belfast, also expressed happiness at their results and plans to go on to A-levels.
Gerry Campbell, chief executive of awarding body CCEA, offered a message of congratulations to the students.
“These achievements reflect your hard work, resilience and determination throughout your studies, and you should feel incredibly proud of everything you have accomplished,” he said.
“Today marks an important milestone as many of you begin to make decisions about your next steps. Whatever path you choose, the commitment you have shown will serve you well.
“I want to extend my sincere thanks to the teachers, school leaders and educators who have supported students with such dedication. I am also deeply grateful to our examiners, moderators and the entire CCEA team, whose professionalism ensures that results are delivered with fairness, accuracy and care.
“Well done to every student receiving results today. I wish you success, confidence and fulfilment in the opportunities that lie ahead.”
