Sir Chris Woodhead, former chief inspector of schools in England, told The Times yesterday that he would sanction children leaving school at 14 to learn a trade.

Woodhead said: “If a child at 14 has mastered basic literacy and numeracy, I would be very happy for that child to leave school and go into a combination of apprenticeship and […] training that takes them through into a job.”

He added that forcing students to study English and mathematics until the age of 18 was a “recipe for disaster”.

The school leaving age is due to rise to 18 by 2013, having been raised to 16 in 1972.