Sorting out the education standards muddle

Sadly, 1 in 5 kids still leave primary school without reaching the expected level in reading and writing. Children from poor backgrounds still fall behind and often never catch up. More than half of 16 year olds don't get 5 good GCSEs including English and Maths.

Labour's top down targets and meddling have made life harder for teachers and children alike. Labour are getting the basics wrong. The Liberal Democrats want to change that.

New Liberal Democrat plans will cut class sizes for 5-7 year olds to 15. That's the same size as private school levels.  In those vital early school years, that will mean more kids get the help they need. It doesn't end there.

The Liberal Democrats will put extra money into every school through the Pupil Premium plan. Standards can be improved in every school. We will never accept that kids from poorer backgrounds can't succeed. Education is about our future.

Liberal democrats will help break the link between social background and education achievement with a new £2.5bn Pupil Premium, giving extra money to pupils from the most challenging backgrounds.

This will increase the per pupil unding of a million pupils to private school levels and schools will be able to use this additional investment to cut class sizes and pay for extra tuition. Instead of wasting money on endless gimmicks that produce headlines but not real solutions we will deliver extra cash directly to the front line.

Too much of what goes on in schools is determined by Government micro-management. We will give extra freedoms to all schools, in order to help them to drive up standards. We want to encourage school leaders to develop their own local solutions to the challenges which they face. Greater freedom to innovate will help to encourage more high quality school leadership, new sources of school governance, and more excellent teachers.

Instead of a complex and confusing qualification system, we need a framework which stretches the most talented, bridges the gap between vocational band academic and is understood by parents, pupils and employers alike. We will create a General diploma which will use GCSEs and A-Levels as building blocks and enable pupils to mix quality vocational and academic learning. And Lib Dems will create a fully independent watchdog to safeguard the curriculum from political interference and ensure high standards across the education system.

Colleges and universities

Labour’s introduction of tuition and top up fees was a betrayal of our future – not to mention another broken election promise.
Thousands of young people have been put off going to university. Many thousands more find themselves saddled with huge debts that will take years to pay off.

That's no way to start off in life.

Amazingly, the Conservatives agree with Labour on this issue. They won't deliver any change for young people and students.
Only the Liberal Democrats want to abolish Labour's tuition and top up fees. They believe that a good education should be available to every young person - regardless of how well off they are.

If you support the Liberal Democrat campaign to axe tuition fees, visit the axe-tuition-fees page. The Liberal Democrats also want to make sure that young people are treated fairly. LibDem education policy page.