A British study says nearly half of all teenagers should be required to take high-quality vocational training to help reduce the youth unemployment rate.
Tim Oates, director of research at the Cambridge Assessment exam board, also suggested the government should consider giving children more job-based tuition at the age of 14 or even as young as 11.
Oates said in a Daily Telegraph report Saturday England risks falling behind other developed nations because it doesn't provide students an opportunity to follow a "rigorous vocational route" at the end of their secondary education.
Oates said about 15 percent of pupils go on to apprenticeship programs after leaving secondary school at the age of 16. He suggested the number should rise to 40 percent, with most of the extra students coming from other vocational training programs or other apprenticeships.
"Some of the most successful economies have these [vocational] routes and people do make choices," Oates said. "Germany has a great vocational route at 16 [as has] Austria and Switzerland."
Oates' comments came ahead of a conference scheduled for later this month.
A report by Alison Wolf, professor of public sector management at King's College London, said the educational system is failing too many young people. She said as many as one-third of the students who leave school between the ages of 16 and 19 took courses that provided "no clear progression opportunities."