Almost half of parents are confused about the education and training options available to their children after they leave school and university, according to new research.

This has left a third of parents feeling unable to advise their children about the best career path to take, the study by City & Guilds found.

The survey of 750 parents also revealed that 72% don’t want their children to follow the same educational route as they did, with many of them having left school at 16 years-old.

In addition, 49% agreed that university is the best option for an 18 year-old, while almost a quarter believed that higher level/advanced apprenticeships would be best.

“The educational landscape has changed enormously since these parents were sitting their exams,” said Kirstie Donnelly, UK managing director of City & Guilds.

“It is worrying, but understandable given the pace of change, that so many parents are not fully aware of all the options available at each stage of education.

“Although there is still a bias towards A-Levels and university, we are gradually seeing more young people waking up to the benefits of further education routes.”

According to City & Guilds, the number of students obtaining university degrees in 1990 was 77,163. By 2011, this had soared to 350,800.

Yet a previous City & Guilds report revealed that 55% of employers felt that young people who had opted for vocational training were better equipped for the workplace than those with an academic qualification.

Another study by AAT and CEBR found that 44% of last year’s university graduates were predicted to be either unemployed or underemployed within six months of leaving full-time education, compared to just 4.5% of those with at least a level 4 apprenticeship.