The government has revealed that reforms it has made to GCSEs are beginning to take effect. It reported that the decline in the number of students taking "rigorous academic qualifications" is beginning to reverse.

There has been an increase in the number of pupils taking "challenging" English Baccalaureate subjects, the Department for Education (DfE) continued.

Initial results for state-funded schools between 2013 and 2014 showed that 38.7 per cent of youngsters entered English Baccalaureate subjects.

It is important to note that the English Baccalaureate is a relatively new performance measure – it should not be confused with being a standalone qualification.

This grading merely identifies where students have achieved a C grade or above in core academic subjects.

This includes English, maths, history, geography, physics, biology, chemistry and a foreign language.

Data released by the government showed for the academic year 2013 to 2014 that 23.9 per cent of pupils had achieved the English Baccalaureate measure.

"I am delighted to see more and more young people taking the high-quality subjects that will properly prepare them for life in modern Britain," said education secretary Nicky Morgan.

"With record numbers taking science at GCSE, and maths now the most popular subject at A-level, our plan for education has finally reversed the decline in key academic subjects."

Some of the notable changes made to GCSE include only counting a student's first attempt at a subject that constitutes an English Baccalaureate qualification in performance tables.

This is to ensure that schools do not repeatedly enter struggling students for the sake of satisfying administrative criteria – in "banking" a good grade, as the DfE puts it, these institutions were able to demonstrate statistically that they had achieved on their goals.

"As part of our plan for education we are making GCSEs more ambitious and putting them on a par with the best in the world to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain," Ms Morgan went on to say.

"We have made important changes to a system that rewarded the wrong outcomes. We have stripped out qualifications that were of little value and are making sure pupils take exams when they are ready, not before."