Grade ‘chaos’ hit poorest students worst, study finds

MIDDLE-CLASS students were more likely to get a place at their preferred university this year than their less welloff peers, research by the Sutton Trust has found.

A report by the social mobility charity found that 72 per cent of pupils from wealthy f amilies said t hey were accepted at their top choice university compared with 63 per cent of poorer applicants.

Researchers examined the role of predicted grades this year in the admissions system.

In general, those from better- off backgrounds do better in exams and so would be more likely to achieve the grades to secure a place at their first choice university, the Sutton Trust said.

But it also noted that in the “chaos” of this year’s exams, children from wealthier backgrounds might have had better support to navigate the system.

A poll of 500 university applicants found that working- class teenagers were more likely to say they would have applied to a more selective university if they had known their A-level results when they were making their decision.

Sir Peter Lampl, the trust’s founder, said: “The utter chaos of this year’s university admissions exposed major flaws with the system that are due principally to our reliance on predicted grades.”

He argued that moving to a postqualifications admission system, where students apply to university after receiving their results, would benefit “high achieving low-income students as their grades are often under-predicted”.

This summer, A-level grades were awarded based on teachers’ predictions after an algorithm was ditched.

But only 38 per cent of applicants received grades that matched their teachers’ predictions, the trust found.

Research showed 32 per cent of students from state schools said they were under-predicted, compared with 26 per cent of those from private schools.

University lecturers backed a move to a post-qualification system, saying the current one is “not fit for purpose”.