Parents’ election votes influenced by education policies

Conservative

The Conservatives say that schools must be improved to make opportunity equal, justified by the widely publicised proposal of 'free schools'.  This would enable non-state providers to set up publicly funded schools along the lines that the Swedish Government followed in the 1990s.

The Conservatives are promising to raise the entry requirement for teacher training, (see Tom-Brown’s previous news item as David Cameron promises to make teaching a noble profession ). They would also give head teachers the power to pay good teachers more, increasing the standard of teaching in the United Kingdom.

Other policies include making it easier for teachers to use reasonable force to combat violence in the classroom and strengthening home-school behaviour contracts, aiming to cut down on truancy and bad behaviour in the education system.

One of the most demanding claims is to facilitate all children being able to read and write by the age of six years old. Other promises include reforming the national curriculum, as many teachers have expressed their unease at the regimented formality of the curriculum with many stating they simply ‘get it out the way’ in order to move on to more inspiring and interesting things.
Conservatives would also overhaul Key Stage 2 tests, as well as setting up technical Academies across England to combat the lack of current apprenticeships.

Labour

With Tony Blair’s famous pledge for ‘education, education, education’, there is pressure on Labour to live up to this previous focus. With a concentration on single mothers and poorer families, Labour has promised an expansion of free nursery places for two-year-olds and 15 hours a week of flexible and free nursery education for three and four-year-olds. Every child leaving primary school would be secure in the basics that include reading, writing and arithmetic. The increase in spending would be focussed on frontline Sure Start and free childcare, schools and 16-19 learning.

Labour would give parents the power to bring in new school leadership teams, through mergers and takeovers, with a promise of up to 1,000 secondary schools part of an accredited schools group by 2015.

In the current economic climate, every young person would be guaranteed education or training until 18 years, with a further 75 per cent going on to higher education, or completing an advanced apprenticeship or technician level training by the age of 30.

Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrat policies concentrate on every child being valued as an individual, with a potential spending of an extra £2.5 billion on schools in order to cut class sizes and offer more one-to-one tuition.

Tuition fees for full and part-time students on their first degree would be scrapped, juxtaposing with the shocking Labour increase in fees tripling from 2005 - 2006. The national curriculum would also be replaced with a more flexible curriculum (Minimum Curriculum Entitlement) adhering to head teachers’ desire for a more flexible and interesting curricula.

Finally, the Liberal Democrats promise a radical ‘General Diploma’ that would combine GCSEs, A-Levels and vocational qualifications, eliminating the difference in examinations.

Have your say...
What policies do you think are the best and why? Who, in your opinion, would be the best party for reforming the education system?