The headteacher of a leading private school says the current A-level system is boring, monotonous, anti-intellectual and should be replaced.

Anthony Seldon, head of Brighton College, said the introduction of AS-level exams put pupils and teachers under too much pressure.

He said: "The number of exams sixth form pupils have to take is totally unnecessary and utterly ridiculous. You are merely teaching the technique to pass and get good grades. It has distorted education.

"The purpose of sixth form study is to stretch pupils' minds in subjects they enjoy and challenge them and allow universities and employers to select pupils. The current system is not doing that. It is boring for many pupils. It is dull, monotonous and anti-intellectual."

In his welcome speech at an independent schools conference at the college in Eastern Road yesterday, Dr Seldon urged hundreds of headteachers to become more proactive.

He said: "We should be doing much more than merely reacting to the Government. We should be setting our own agenda."

He called for a new exam for 16 to 19-year-olds based on the best parts of A-levels and the International Baccalaureate.

Dr Seldon backed a radical Government plan to give boarding school places to difficult pupils on the condition that they were "young enough and capable of responding positively".

He also encouraged independent schools' involvement in the Government's controversial plan to build 200 privately sponsored city academies.

Dr Seldon said: "Above all we must attack head-on the old lie of British education, that this country has a free and equitable education system. It does not. Middle-class parents either pay for good schooling in the private sector or they pay through their houses and extra tuition to get their children into top state schools."