Radical reforms in post-16 education and training may be delayed or have to be rushed through without being thoroughly thought out, politicians have warned.
The Learning and Skills Bill, which has completed its passage through the House of Commons, is expected to get a rough ride when it returns to the Lords for its report stage in around a week.
Opposition from peers to amendments to the bill that only affect schools could mean that an already ambitious timetable for the creation of a new post-16 funding and inspection regime by April will become even tighter.
The Lords are likely to take exception to the Commons scrapping their Section 28 clause banning the teaching of homosexuality in schools, the last-minute addition of privately run school sector "city academies", and the reintroduction of a clause allowing parents a ballot to scrap grammar schools.
Phil Willis, the Liberal Democrat further and higher education spokesman, said that with a possible general election on the horizon, the bill would be a test as to whether the Conservatives wanted to "clear the decks, or cause maximum damage".
The controversial clauses in the bill could mean delays for the relatively uncontroversial post-16 proposals, which needed time to be developed.
He added: "The sad thing is that this will detract from the main purpose of the bill, to give a new coherent dynamic to post-16 education and training."
The warning came as the Association of Colleges, which was consulting its members this week on government plans for new funding arrangements under 47 learning and skills councils proposed in the bill, expressed concern over the short amount of time left to develop the ideas.
John Brennan, the AoC's director of FE development, said it would be "unfortunate" if the proposals for a complex new system had to be rushed through.
He said: "The government has been consulting on bits of the system without showing the total picture. There are important pieces of the jigsaw that have not been put in place.
"Until we know how all these things fit together, we cannot be sure how the system will work. And if the department has not sorted out these questions by early autumn, the emergent learning and skills council will have no basis on which to plan its allocations, and the whole system will be unable to function."
Tim Boswell, the Conservative further and higher education spokesman, acknowledged there was likely to be further debate over school-related clauses, but thought the bill's passage was likely to be smooth otherwise.
"Generally, the pattern has been that we have put in amendments to probe, and ministers have set about answering the concerns," he said.