Pupils with graduate parents received an unfair advantage in their A-level results last year

Following a disastrous attempt to assign pupil grades using a controversial algorithm, last year’s GCSE and A-level grades were eventually determined using Centre Assessed Grades. New evidence from a survey carried out by the UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunity (CEPEO) and the London School of Economics finds that some pupils appear to have benefited unfairly from this approach – particularly pupils with graduate parents. As teachers will again be deciding exam grades this year, this finding serves as an important warning of the challenges involved in ensuring that a system using teacher assessments is fair, say Jake Anders, Lindsey Macmillan (University College London), Patrick Sturgis (LSE), and Gill Wyness (UCL).