A GOVERNMENT task force is currently working on a massive shake-up of education for 14-19 year olds -- which will see vocational study play a larger part in the curriculum.

Headed by former chief inspector Mike Tomlinson the taskforce will design an English baccalaureate (an examination qualifying candidates for higher education in more than one country) which will recognise vocational and academic courses as well as activities outside the classroom, such as volunteering, and reward achievements by pupils.

The shake-up could even lead to the scrapping of A levels and GCSEs.

Education bosses hope a more exciting and varied curriculum will inject more motivation into teens and root out boredom, as youngsters will get more opportunities to learn practical, vocational skills geared towards particular careers. It is hoped they will be inspired to stay on for further study.

Universities and employers are expected to play a key role in the wide ranging reforms and will be included on the taskforce. Top education bosses have stressed that GCSEs, AS and A2 qualifications will exist for years to come and any baccalaureate system is unlikely to begin until 2010 at the earliest.

In the short term, foreign languages and design and technology will be made optional at Key Stage four.

All pupils will be required to undertake work-related or what ministers described as "enterprise" learning. More teenagers will spend a day or two a week in college and on work placements.

Bolton is ahead of many other towns in introducing more work-related study for teens -- as it is a concept that has been a proven success for a number of years.

Seven years ago Bolton Community College was one of the first colleges in the country to develop links with local high schools and offer courses to school children which they can complete during school hours.

More than 200 Year 10 and 11 pupils from schools across the borough already spend a proportion of each week for a two year period at the college learning foundation skills in either construction, beauty therapy or catering. They work towards gaining industry standard, nationally accepted qualifications that mean they have a head start on more traditional school leavers when they go into work, onto a modern apprenticeship or further education at 16.

The courses are particularly suited to youngsters who have a good idea of the career that they would like to follow and are keen to get on with it. It is not designed to be a course for less academic students -- it is for any student who expresses an interest in the option.

However, pupils do not necessarily need to be thinking in terms of embarking on a career in a particular vocation either.

In year nine, students have the option to come to 'taster' sessions to try out the subjects on offer.

In September the variety and number of vocational courses schoolchildren will be able to take at the college is about to -- in the words of college bosses -- "explode."

Children will be able to spend up to two days a week at the college learning practical skills. The courses available to pupils in the next academic year will include motor vehicles, retail, health and social care, early years, painting and decorating, carpentry and joinery, plumbing, brickwork and holistic therapies.

Paul Cragg Programme Manager at the college said: "We provide facilities and a range of curriculum that schools can't. These vocational courses are for any children who are interested in doing them. It provides pupils with broader options and it does help them make more informed career choices."

He added: "A significant number of children who come on the course do end up going on the further education."

Pupils work in top of the range facilities. Catering students are able to work in industrial sized kitchens and are given a thorough grounding in both practical and theoretical aspects of industry.

Construction students can learn the trade in specially staged warehouse size 'classrooms,' which enable them to actually learn construction skills such as bricklaying, by building low walls and chimney shaped structures.

Meanwhile painting and decorating students can hone their wallpapering skills by being given the chance to decorate a range of specially built staircases and rooms so they can become adept in decorating awkward spaces.

In the beauty therapy department, students can work in salon surroundings and get a real practical idea of a beauty professional's job. Rumworth School pupil Louise Davies, aged 15, is on a beauty therapy course. As with all the vocational courses, classes are made up of students from a mixture of schools across the borough.

Louise said: "So far I've been doing manicures and nail art. I'll also be doing make up too. I'd prefer to do this full time at college. This has really given me a good head start."

More than 20 Year ten students at Hayward School have been taking part in vocational courses at the college since September.

Assistant Headteacher Jeff Ellis said so far it has been positive.

"Students are going in for two whole days a week although they are also maintaining their GCSE curriculum within the school. We do have a bit of a boy/girl divide, with boys going in for construction and girls doing beauty therapy.

"It seems to be working out very well. We are just not able to provide these courses within school because we don't have the right facilities for things like construction."

He added that the vocational courses have certainly increased levels of interest although he does not think it has had an impact on attendance.

Next year Hayward plans to send a slightly larger group on the course.