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Gordon Brown has confirmed that he wants to raise the school leaving age in Britain to 18.

In a on the effects of globalisation the chancellor said that lifelong education should start with the "world-class ambition" of setting the leaving age to 18.

He told delegates at the Scottish parliament that while the importance of education has been transformed by the creation of a world economy, the "span and reach of education remained the same".

The school leaving age has been at its current level of 16 since 1972 after being steadily raised from 11 over the preceding seven decades.

But Mr Brown, widely-tipped to become the country's next prime minister, said that the "coming generation should have the chance not just to start education at three, but to continue in education or training until 18, with second and, if necessary, third chances to follow".

He claimed that the reforms could mean 1.5 million more young people in education and training over the next decade and is planning a nationwide campaign to inform parents on the importance of their children staying in school or joining an apprenticeship scheme – which he wants to create half a million of in the UK.

The chancellor also outlined his plans to move the country's educational system closer to the community college model favoured in the US in order to foster an increased partnership between the business and school spheres.

In conclusion, Mr Brown said that the government's ultimate aim for education is to "raise the floor and to remove the ceiling - a higher floor for all to build from, with no ceiling for anyone to be held back, no limit to potential, no cap on aspiration".

In anticipation of the chancellor's remarks, Sir Digby Jones, the former director general of the Confederation of the British Industry and the government's skills tsar, had said that raising the school leaving age to 18 is essential if the UK is to recover from its skills shortage.

"We've got about seven million adults in this country today who can't use the Yellow Pages properly, they're not functionally literate, and we've got about 11 million adults who can't add up two, three-figure numbers," he told the Today programme.

"So in society we have got people who are completely ill-equipped for a century of work where you've got to add value, you've got to use your skills, because you can't just go down the pit, or go in the shipyard, or lie under a motor car to make your money as they did just a few decades ago."

But countering these claims, Alison Wolf, professor of public sector management at King's College London, told the same programme that it is a "completely crazy idea" to compel young people to remain at school in training until they reach 18.

"People who are leaving school and leaving training at 17, of which there is a small group; these are people who already cannot bear to be in training or in school even though we're already paying them to be there," the academic said.

"If you actually say they've got to be there, there are two things that will happen. The first is that they are extremely likely to disrupt the classes and courses of people who want to be there."