Blair to expand vocational education

The prime minister, Tony Blair, today promised to tackle drop-put rates at 16 by giving pupils who do not want to work towards a place at university a vocational option until the age of 19.

The promise, the third of six pledges he is making today in the run up to an expected general election, fuelled speculation that the government is planning to introduce a vocational diploma that pupils can opt to take from 14.

His education pledge to parents - Your child achieving more - spoke of continued investment in schools and tackling poor behaviour, while improving the vocational options for pupils.

"We want to make sure also that we have got strong school discipline and to make sure that, for some youngsters who want to go to university and others who won't want to go, that we have as strong a vocational element as academic element," said Mr Blair.

"I would like to see a situation - and this will be the test of whether we're really a modern country or not - if every 16-year-old is either staying on at school, studying for A-levels or in training with an employer or in a modern apprenticeship.

"What we shouldn't have is 16-year-olds leaving, often not with very good results, then just drifting into the workplace and low-paid jobs. That doesn't help the economy. That certainly doesn't help them. That's the ambition for the future."

Mr Blair's comments add weight to suggestions that the government is planning to dump plans for a flexible diploma proposed by Sir Mike Tomlinson last autumn, and opt instead for maintaining the current academic route, but adding a vocational diploma option.

It places the prime minister, the education secretary, Ruth Kelly, and the government on a collision course with education professionals who largely support a long-term overhaul of the curriculum to introduce more vocational elements, as long as the same level of importance is attached to them as to the traditional academic route to university.

Today it emerged that Sir Anthony Greener, chairman of the government's exams watchdog, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, has written to Ms Kelly asking her to consider dropping GCSEs and A-levels and adopting a new overarching diploma with academic and vocational elements and options.

His call echoes those of the chief inspector of schools, David Bell, and headteachers.

But Ms Kelly and Mr Blair have insisted that both exams should stay, largely, it is believed, because dropping them may not be a wise move politically in the run up to a general election, which is expected in May.

The Times Educational Supplement reported today that the government is preparing to keep the existing academic exams, but will introduce a vocational diploma in a white paper expected at the end of the month. Critics argue this would make the vocational element a "second class" option.

Around 71.8% of 16-year-olds continue their academic studies after finishing their A-levels. That proportion increases to 86.5% when training courses are included. But those who do not continue studying are unlikely to ever return to education or training.

Mr Blair and Ms Kelly were speaking at Myton school, in Warwick as part of the prime minister's tour from London to the north making the six pledges on his way. Ms Kelly hailed the school, a secondary specialist in science, as an example for others to follow. It had 14 laboratories, nine ICT suites and every class had a whiteboard, she said.