Exam boards are struggling to keep pace with modern methods of cheating because pupils are more technologically advanced than their teachers, the chair of a new malpractice inquiry has warned.

Sir John Dunford said that while boards are familiar with the more “traditional” cheating techniques which have existed for decades, they are now faced with the threat of “known unknowns”.

In his first interview since being announced as the head of an independent commission into cheating, he said that digital communications pose the greatest threat to exam integrity.

“Traditional exam cheating is something the system has faced for generations. The exam boards, schools and colleges are alert to it,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“What I think is particularly interesting for the commission’s work is to look at the effect of sophisticated digital communications.

“Remember, we are talking predominantly about young people, who are very often more advanced than their teachers in the use of social media and digital communication.”