A BROADER, more reliable exam system is needed to avoid a wave of resits and crippling regional disparities in results, education unions warned today as pupils across England and Wales received their GCSE results.

The National Education Union (NEU) congratulated the 67.8 per cent of students across England who achieved at least a “standard pass” grade 4, while fellow teaching union NASUWT Cymru hailed the 64.5 pass rate — grade C and above — in Wales.

Compared with last year, the former figure was down by 5.2 per cent and the latter by 3.7 per cent amid a deliberate policy to return grades to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels in 2019.