Mr Bell has already been critical of colleges

David Bell will question whether colleges have the resources to provide work training for 14- to 16-year-olds, the Times Educational Supplement says.

Day-release schemes are likely to become more common if plans to reform the exams system are implemented.

Up to 120,000 pupils spend some of the week in further education colleges.

Careers

It is said that offering vocational training there re-enthused disillusioned 14-year-olds.

This reportedly improves their behaviour at school while giving them more focus on a career.

But critics say the Increased Flexibility Programme is re-creating a "two-tier" system, like that which once placed pupils in grammar or secondary modern schools at age 11, based on academic ability.

Under reforms proposed by Sir Mike Tomlinson - Mr Bell's predecessor at the education watchdog, Ofsted - GCSEs, A-levels and vocational qualifications will be replaced by a four-part diploma.

If accepted by ministers, this would increase the number of 14- to 16-year-olds spending some of their time in colleges.

'Naivety'

Mr Bell is expected to say neither schools nor colleges have the facilities to provide good-quality vocational training on this scale.

But Association of Colleges chief executive John Brennan said he was "desperately disappointed at the naivety and lack of understanding of vocational learning" in Mr Bell's reported proposals.

He added: "Far from offering an imaginative and innovative approach to the learning needs of the 21st Century, such a suggestion can only be seen as a throwback to the secondary modern era."

Dr Brennan also said: "In addition, this intervention necessarily raises the question of whether Mr Bell's readiness to advocate new directions for education policy is compatible with his position as head of an impartial inspectorate."

Mr Bell has already angered many in the further education sector by calling - in an article for the BBC News website - the inspections failure rate of colleges a "national disgrace".

A spokeswoman for Ofsted said Mr Bell had already spoken of the "need to improve" opportunities for work-related learning.