Mike Tomlinson says any changes would take five to 10 years

Mike Tomlinson, the man reviewing 14-19 qualifications in England says a Baccalaureate is becoming an increasingly likely option.

Speaking at the Association of Colleges and Sixth Form Colleges' Employers' Forum in Cambridge, Mr Tomlinson said: "There is quite a persuasive argument for the baccalaureate-type option."

He said any changes would take place in about five to 10 years' time.

Such a change might mean students would be forced to study certain subjects to fit the Baccalaureate's wide brief.

The qualification would be taken by students at the age of 18. A Baccalaureate is typically made up of a number of compulsory subjects plus some optional ones.

The international Baccalaureate is taken by pupils in some independent schools.

GCSEs

Mike Tomlinson, former chief inspector of England's schools, will give a final verdict on the government's idea of an over-arching qualification next year, but he gave a progress report to sixth form and further education colleges.

He told them it was too early to talk about scrapping the existing national exams.

But he said: "If we have a Baccalaureate you cannot have free standing qualifications within it.

"It doesn't mean that the specification and demands of GCSEs and A-levels disappear, if anything disappears it is the free-standing qualifications.

"It is not the decision that we abandon GCSEs and A-levels. We aren't at that point."

Mr Tomlinson's review group is due to announce its first findings on 16 July.