What is each party saying about the education system?

Conservative

The Conservatives have said they will put £120 million into an extension of technical educational collages and £400 million into school improvements for academies and sixth-form colleges.

They have also said that they will increase school funding by £14 billion, and each secondary school pupil will receive a minimum of £5,000 next year, with each primary school pupil receiving £4,000 by 2021-22.

The Conservative Party has pledged a funding boost of £400 million in education for 16-19-year-olds, including further education and sixth-form colleges. This is in order to give young people the skills they need for well-paid jobs in the modern economy.

They have also said they will invest £10 million into national behavior hubs, to enable schools that already have excellent behavior to work closely with other schools to drive improvement and make sure that no matter where you live, the best education will be available.

They want to raise teacher’s salaries and benefits. Salaries for new teachers will be increased by £30,000 by 2022-23 and they are also pledging to fund contributions to the Teacher’s pension scheme, meaning school leaders can focus their resources where they are needed. By doing this, they are hoping to attract the best teachers into the profession and make sure that children have access to the best teaching in the country.

Labour

Labour has pledged to scrap the £9,250 tuition fees and instead create a National Education Service based on the NHS.

They have proposed a £150 billion ‘social transformation fund’ that includes improvements to schools. Labour also wants to scrap Ofsted and strip private schools of their charitable status, making the education system fairer to all.

Labour has said that they will put a price cap on school uniforms, stopping the exclusion of children from schools based on prices.

The Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats want to reverse cuts to school funding, and triple the funding for early years whilst giving teachers a pay rise that is at least in line with inflation.

They are also pledging to ‘give every child the best start in life’ by recruiting 20,000 more teachers as a part of an extra £10 billion a year for schools.

The Lib Dems have said that they would scrap GCSE resits, and instead introduce free English and maths courses based on students’ needs. They have also said that sixth forms and colleges will be reimbursed for the VAT they pay while providing publically funded courses.

They have pledged a further £1 Billion of extra funding to Further Education and as a part of this, they have said that they would introduce the Personal Education and Skills Account (PESA), which would give all adults over 25 a £9,000 grant over their lifetime to pay for further education or training.

It is up to you how you vote, but each vote is important. What to do you want your future to look like?