1. General Election 2010 What the Parties Say – Education

2. The Conservative Party – Education Allow charities, parent and teacher groups, and co-operatives to set up Academies – schools which get money from the Government but which are not run by the local Council. Allow every school to become an Academy. Give more money to schools that teach the poorest children. Make people who want to be teachers have better exam results. Allow all schools to offer the whatever exams they want to. Make it easier for teachers to use "reasonable force" to stop pupils fighting and getting hurt. Give head teachers the power to pay "good" teachers more. Make it more difficult for parents to argue when their child is excluded. Create 10,000 extra university places in 2010 and 100,000 extra apprenticeships and training places a year. Give back money to students who pay their loans back early.

3. The Labour Party – Education Not spend any less on education than at the moment. Open more Academies (schools not run by the local Council), and allow Universities to set them up. Give more money to schools teaching pupils from poor families. Give school pupils one-to-one English and Maths lessons if they fall behind. Allow strong schools to help weaker schools get better. Introduce school "report cards", which would rate schools on things like exam results, behaviour and what parents’ and children’s think about a school. Let more people go to university, but make everyone pay to go. Make an extra 20,000 university places in 2010-11. Introduce a "licence to teach" for teachers which they have to renew every 5 years.

4. The Liberal Democrats – Education Replace Academies with "Sponsor Managed Schools", to be run by educational charities and private companies, but still run by the local Council. Give £2.5 billion for a "Pupil Premium" to go to schools which teach the poorest pupils. Give teachers more freedom to teach what and how they want to teach by getting rid of the National Curriculum. Create a General Diploma made up of GCSEs, A-Levels and GNVQs / NVQs. Set up an Education Standards Authority to check on how well schools are doing. Increase the numbers of apprenticeships and places on university and vocational higher education courses. Get rid of university tuition fees within six years.

5. The Green Party – Education Get rid of SATs and school league tables. Schools should check how well they are doing and local councils should check that the school’s are doing this. Private schools should be made open to everyone. Children with disabilities and special educational needs should be allowed to attend their local school. All schools to should teach about and respect other religions. Stop opening Academies. Get rid of tuition fees and provide students with grants for living expenses.

6. UKIP – Education Give parents vouchers for education so that they can spend them in whatever school they want to. Set up a grammar school in every town. Replace student loans (which they pay back) with student grants (which they don’t pay back). Do not believe that 50% of people need to go to university. Let schools decide the subjects they teach. All lessons must be taught in English, except in parts of Wales where they speak Welsh. Not test children at the age of seven; Stop children having to do Sex education, Citizenship and Personal, Social and Health education.