Randomly allocated school places could help to reduce educational inequalities for the generation of schoolchildren experiencing the coronavirus outbreak, a new report on the impact on Covid-19 on children and young people has suggested.

In order to tackle educational inequalities, the report from the London School of Economics (LSE) suggests that where schools are over-subscribed there should be a random allocation of admissions where pupils have met the selection criteria.

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“The most equitable way to allocate places to equally deserving candidates at oversubscribed institutions is to pick them randomly,” the report says.

The Covid-19 and Social Mobility report says that “sixth-form selection” is a “major danger zone” for inequality following the coronavirus outbreak.

It says that school admissions at age 16 lack the “consistency and scrutiny” applied to admissions at 11 or 18, with selection criteria or grade thresholds varying between different colleges.

“One dropped grade at GCSE for pupils could curtail further study at A level,” it says.

The report also warns that the A-level grading process will make it less likely for poorer pupils to secure places at highly-selective universities.

“With exams cancelled in 2020, pupils will be graded according to teacher assessments. At the very highest A-level grades, they can suffer from being underpredicted in their A levels,” the report says.