It interviewed 5,000 parents with secondary-aged children and found that more than half were encouraging their children to pursue A-levels and university study. Almost one in five said they would be disappointed if their children undertook a practical career.

To tackle this parental snobbery, Edge has produced a television advertisement, which will be shown from Monday.

It shows a father giving his teenage son a driving lesson. He instructs the boy to turn into oncoming traffic, squeeze into unfeasibly small spaces, and swerve in front of a moving bus. At the end, a caption reads: “Are you pushing your kids in the wrong direction?”

Andy Powell, chief executive of Edge, said: “We’re failing thousands of young people if we carry on with this myth that there’s only one form of intelligence, one route to success.”