Rank schools on university entries, says Brown aide

Schools would be assessed on how many pupils they send to university under a proposal being put to Gordon Brown.

The idea, which would create rankings based on higher education admissions data, immediately ran into trouble with teachers.

They said it would punish schools where large numbers of youngsters opt for vocational schemes instead of entry into academia.

Parents might shun secondaries known to send fewer pupils on to university.

The recommendation will be made by Steve Smith, vice chancellor of Exeter University and one of the Prime Minister's education advisers.

He said: 'The proposal is that the Higher Education Statistics Agency database will contain information on what school every student came from.'

He added: 'The widening debate needs to focus less on which universities students attend, and more on the vast number of able students who never progress to higher education.

'There is a massive socio-economic gap up to the age of 16. GCSE attainment is the determining factor as to whether a young person continues in education.'

Professor Smith, who sits on the National Council for Education Excellence, acknowledged that schools would probably oppose his idea.

The council, which was set up by Mr Brown last summer, has been tasked with encouraging schools, parents, businesses and higher education leaders to work together.

Professor Smith said universities needed to engage with primary schools, because it was often too late to interest children in higher education once they were at secondary school.

He said ministers were concerned about the low number of teenagers from poor backgrounds reaching university.

Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said last night that the rankings idea was 'nonsense'.

'Many young people may be perfectly well equipped to go to university, but choose to take other routes to further their educational skills,' she added.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said: 'This will be yet another stick to beat schools with.

'The information is not relevant and won't tell people anything.'

Earlier this week it emerged that a number of leading universities, including Edinburgh, St Andrews, Cambridge and Bristol, make allowances that favour pupils from low-performing schools.

The fear is that the proposed rankings could foster that process.

John Dunford, of the Association of School and College Leaders, said rankings were a ' realistic proposal to level the playing field for students applying to university, from schools with very different levels of experience of the application system'.

He said that admissions tutors were already taking into account a candidate's social background when deciding on offers.

Last year, a rich list compiled by money expert Philip Beresford suggested that degrees and academic success were not the only route to success.

It showed that in five years, the collective value of the wealthiest 25 vocational millionaires had soared from £2.7billion to £9.3billion.

A third were trained in ' traditional' trades such as joinery, plumbing and bricklaying.

Forty per cent of the total wealth in the list could be attributed to tycoons who started out with engineering qualifications.

Topping the list with £1.6billion was John Caudwell, founder of Phones4U, who got his first job as an engineering apprentice at a Michelin plant in Stoke in 1970.

Increasing numbers of students are turning to vocational education in the hope that a practical course will help them pay back their tuition fees.