"But I'm very pleased that England now, like Wales and like Northern Ireland, is keeping GCSEs and there appears to be recognition finally that GCSEs are good qualifications, " he said.
The report, which is part of the Cambridge Review of primary education, said although there were increasing opportunities for those with good qualifications, access to these was often linked to economic background.
Prof Wolf said she hoped the proposed shortlist would give "good vocational qualifications exactly the same status as any other qualifications".
Instead, universities will have to recruit those with other qualifications such as vocational qualifications or a good record of work or training experience.
She has good GCSEs and admin and business qualifications, but she knows it is a competitive market for jobs.
Manufacturing used to provide a good living for people without academic qualifications, and still does if you can get a job.
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Some are well-qualified and earning good salaries: professional couples look for educated nannies with qualifications in first aid and the like, and pay accordingly.
"They have usually been out of school for about two years before they come to us, but 54% have gone on to get five good GCSE passes, and 98% have got some qualifications, " he told delegates.
The figures also show the proportion of pupils at schools rated as inadequate achieving five good GCSEs rises by 10.6 percentage points to 42.3% if equivalent qualifications are included, while in outstanding schools it rises 4.6 percentage points to 68.1%.
While arguing that the system of vocational qualifications was "complex and opaque", Professor Wolf said that in practice "good levels of English and mathematics continue to be the most generally useful and valuable vocational skills on offer".
Surely the point is that you can't do very much without qualifications these days, so encouraging teenagers to stay on at school can only be a good thing.
About half (51%) want to see if the candidate is a good fit for the company culture, and another 45% want to learn more about his or her qualifications.
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