CEER Publications

The Centre for Education and Employment Research aims to speak to those who make education happen – the policy makers and practitioners. Our findings are published in books, reports and articles. You can download the Centre for Education and Employment Research publications below. You can also access further publications in our Annual Reports and Publications Archive.

A levels 2020: Grades without Exams

Buckingham: CEER, August 2020

Download: A levels 2020: Grades without Exams

GCSEs 2019: Trends and Prospects

Buckingham: CEER, August 2019

Download GCSEs 2019: Trends and Prospects (PDF)

A-Levels 2019: Trends and Forecast

Buckingham: CEER, August 2019

Download A-Levels 2019: Trends and Forecast (PDF)

Social Disadvantage and Widening Access to Universities

Buckingham: CEER, November 2015

It has become a political imperative to get more students from disadvantaged backgrounds into university. The challenge is that this goes against the grain of the evidence on student performance. Females, those from higher income backgrounds, those who are white, and those from more affluent neighbourhoods gain proportionally more good degrees. Minority ethnic pupils are both more likely to be admitted to university and do less well there. Universities face a dilemma. If they stick to offering places on merit the Government’s aims are unlikely to be realised, but if they comply then they will struggle to keep up their degree standards.

Download Social Disadvantage and Widening Access to Universities (PDF).

HEFCE’s Blunder

Buckingham: CEER, November 2015

HEFCE made a crucial error in its latest report on degree outcomes. In Issues Paper 2015/21 it said that 82 per cent of graduates getting firsts or upper-seconds in 2013-14 came from state schools compared with 73 per cent from independent schools. HEFCE’s Blunder reveals that, in fact, the reverse was the case. Although HEFCE has changed some of the figures in the report itself, it has not publicly corrected the misinformation. It also still claims that students from state school were four percentage points ahead rather than nine points behind.

Download HEFCE’s Blunder (PDF).

The Coalition Effect, 2010-15

edited by Anthony Seldon and Mike Finn, Cambridge University Press, pages 257-289, March 2015

The government rushed to unsettling reforms of education, but was given an ‘easy ride’ by Labour. Michael Gove’s departure left a lot of unfinished business on academies, qualifications, apprenticeships and fair funding. A new Conservative-led government is very likely to see these through. But what Labour would do is far from clear since so far it has offered only bits and pieces.

Download The Coalition Effect, 2010-15 (PDF).

The Ins and Outs of Selective Secondary Schools

London: Civitas, pages 194-205, March 2015

There has to be selection in education since people differ greatly in their talents, interests and aspirations. Fifteen would be a good age allowing for an array of interconnected three-year pathways across the academic and occupational.

Download The Ins and Outs of Selective Secondary Schools (PDF).

The Science and Mathematics Teaching Workforce

London: The Royal Society, June 2014

Teacher provision in the physical sciences and mathematics has been a long-standing and deep-seated problem in many countries. As part of its Vision for Science and Mathematics Education project, The Royal Society commissioned CEER to review provision in England, the UK, and worldwide.

Download The Science and Mathematics Teaching Workforce (PDF).

Confusion in the Ranks

London: The Sutton Trust, February 2013

Countries are increasingly comparing themselves in education league tables. But how is it that England can be 27th and sixth at the same time? Confusion in the Ranksexplains.

Download Confusion in the Ranks (PDF).

14-18 A New Vision for Secondary Education

London: Bloomsbury, January 2013

Education in England lacks a clear shape. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the final years of secondary schooling. Raising the participation age to 18 creates the opportunity to design an array of academic, practical, creative and occupational pathways to take people forward to university, training, employment and future lives.

Download 14-18 A New Vision for Secondary Education (PDF).

Educating the Highly Able

London: The Sutton Trust, July 2012

England lags far behind other countries in educating the brightest. A first step would be to hold schools to account for the progress of the highly able. Current measures are pitched at the lowest and middling performers. Other countries bring together the brightest. The raising of the participation age provides an opportunity to create an array of pathways post 14 on the model of the university technical colleges.

Download Educating the Highly Able (PDF).

Choice And Selection In School Admissions: The Experience of Other Countries

London: The Sutton Trust, November 2010

Proposes a radical solution to bring England into line with best international practice: undertake national examinations at age 14, instead of age 16, and offer pupils an array of distinct and credible educational routes thereafter.

Download Choice And Selection In School Admissions: The Experience of Other Countries (PDF).

Worlds Apart: Social Variation Among Schools

London: The Sutton Trust, April 2010

Comprehensive schools in England are highly socially segregated and the main reason for this is their admissions and selection processes rather than their location. The country’s leading comprehensive schools are more socially exclusive than the remaining grammar schools.

Download Worlds Apart: Social Variation Among Schools (PDF).