Election 2015 Party Policy Guide: Schools

Conservatives

• Children who do not reach the required standards in exams at the end of primary school will resit them at the start of secondary school
• Secondary school pupils to take GCSEs in English, maths, science, a language and history or geography
• Ofsted would not award its highest rating to schools that refuse to teach the core subjects
• Invest at least £7bn over the next parliament to provide "good" school places
• Expand the National Leaders of Education programme
• Open at least 500 new free schools, creating 270,000 new school places by 2020
• Any school judged by Ofsted as "requires improvement" to be taken over by the best head teachers, unless it can demonstrate it has a plan to improve rapidly
• A real-terms increase in the schools budget in the next parliament, based on current pupil growth numbers
• Continue to provide the pupil premium, protected at current rates
• Provide free school meals to all infants
• Ensure the 69 least well-funded councils in England continue to receive additional resources
• State schools will not be allowed to make a profit
• Every teacher must be trained to tackle serious behavioural issues, and how to deal with low-level classroom disruption
• Continue to back the Teach First programme

Labour

• Introduce directors of school standards at a local level to monitor performance, intervene in underperforming schools and support them to improve
• Where a majority of local parents have concerns about underperformance, or a dip in standards, they will be able to call in the local director of school standards to hold a school to account
• End the free schools programme
• Invest in capping class sizes for five-, six- and seven-year-olds at 30 pupils or under
• Introduce compulsory age-appropriate sex and relationships education
• Encourage all schools to embed character education across the curriculum
• Work with schools to stop homophobic bullying
• Every teacher will need to gain qualified teacher status to practice
• Create new career routes for teachers who are experts in their subject, enabling them to attain a new "master teacher" status
• Teachers will be expected to update their knowledge and skills as a condition of remaining in the profession
• Support plans for a new College of Teaching
• Work towards all children reading well by age 11
• Back the Teach First initiative

Liberal Democrats

• Protect the school pupil premium and introduce a fair national funding formula
• Eradicate child illiteracy and innumeracy by 2025
• Provide support and intervention to help ensure all schools become "good" or "outstanding"
• Expand the Talented Head Teachers programme
• Increase the number of teaching schools
• Ensure there is an effective "middle tier" to support schools where problems are identified
• Encourage head teachers with a strong record to play a key role in school improvement
• Abolish regional school commissioners
• Allow Ofsted to inspect both local authorities and academy chains, with settings that are failed for intervention work required to work with stronger organisations or be replaced
• Rule out state-funded profit-making schools
• Give councils clear responsibility for local school places planning
• Only fund mainstream schools in areas where school places are needed, and repeal the rule that all new state funded schools must be free schools or academies
• Extend free school meals to all children in primary education
• Continue to support the Teach First programme
• Establish a new National Leadership Institute
• Include personal, social and health education in the minimum curriculum entitlement

Commentary

Education is another key election battleground, with all the parties pledging to protect its budget.

The Conservatives' measures are largely an extension of polices it has developed while in office over the past five years. This includes expanding the free school and Teach First programmes, tougher interventions for schools not achieving the top inspection grades as judged by Ofsted, and greater government control on "core subjects".

Labour has honed in on raising school standards, with a number of its manifesto proposals based on improving the quality of teaching. Creating a master teacher status for experts in their field, developing a College of Teaching and capping class sizes are all aimed at bolstering teachers' skills and working conditions.

The Lib Dems want to build on some of their flagship policies while in the coalition, so the manifesto aspires to at least protect the pupil premium and expand free school meals. It supports the development of an "effective, democratic middle tier" of management of schools between the frontline and government, although does not go as far as to say this role should be done by councils. It does, however, advocate abolishing regional school commissioners. It also wants to see personal, social and health education included in a slimmed-down school curriculum.

Download the full CYP Now Party Policy Guide