Ejukashn - getin it rit

7.57.00pm GMT Sun 14th Mar 2010

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) and University and College Union (UCU) have asked prospective MPs to back their four pledges for education. Here are the pledges and the response.

1. The Unions want assessment reform, an end to SATS, and primary school classes of 20 by 2020. Teachers to be trusted with the curriculum.

SATs are in need of reform. Children need to learn more than just how to pass exams. Lib Dems will scale back the National Tests and put more reliance on teachers' assessment of their pupils. An independent Education Standards Authority will check the assessments.

Primary school classes of 20 by 2020 - Lib Dems are committed to spending an extra £2.5bn on schools, guaranteeing them the money they need to support children who are struggling. An average primary school could cut classes to 20, with a typical secondary school able to cut classes to just 16 or start a programme of catch-up classes. At the heart of our approach to education policy is giving more freedom to schools. Headteachers will be free to spend the additional money as they see fit.

Trust Teachers with the Curriculum - The National Curriculum is too rigid. Different children learn in different ways and we need a curriculum which can be adapted by teachers to meet the needs of pupils. We will therefore scrap the 600 page National Curriculum, and replace it with a light touch 20 page 'Minimum Curriculum Guarantee'. This will enable each school to make judgements about the best curriculum to offer its pupils. The Minimum Curriculum Guarantee will specify the core educational provision which every school will have to make available to each child from age 7 to age 19.

2. The unions want there to be a qualified teacher for every child, for every lesson.

This could be problematical for example it is difficult to attract teachers for shortage subjects, such as maths and science. To tackle this Lib Dems will improve teacher training, by increasing the size of the popular school-based Graduate Teacher Programme and support the expansion of 'Teach First' attracting more top graduates into teaching, particularly in the shortage subjects.

Liberal Democrats will reform and simplify the National Teacher Pay and Conditions rules to give more freedom, including offering financial and other incentives to attract teachers - particularly in shortage subjects in the most challenging areas. All schools would still be required to make sure teachers get at least the baseline national pay increase, as well as the basic minimum pay rates.

Our Pupil Premium which would direct an additional £2.5bn into schools and would enable headteachers to pay more to attract and retain teachers in the most challenging schools.

Regarding Colleges and Universities, the unions want:

1. A guaranteed local place at college or university for all who qualify.

Liberal Democrats see the role of the Further Education (FE) College as meeting the education and training needs of the whole community broadly from age 14 onwards. We will introduce a new General Diploma to bring GCSEs, A-Levels and high quality vocational qualifications together, enabling 14-19 year-olds to mix vocational and academic learning. This will give all young people the right to take up a course at college, rather than at school, if it suits them better.

In our first year, we will expand the number of Foundation Degree places and fully fund adult apprenticeships, so more young people will be able to achieve higher level qualifications - often through their local college. So that no young person is put off applying to university because of expensive tuition fees, we have an affordable plan to scrap them over six years.

2. To give adults without qualifications a right to learn; and to recruit an extra 10,000 education staff to teach them.

Liberal Democrats believe that high quality education and training, accessible to all, is crucial to the achievement of a fair, free and open society, by helping people to gain the skills, knowledge and aspiration to move out of poverty. It improves the productivity of the nation and our employers and above all, it widens people's horizons and opens up new choices and experiences to them.

We believe that poor performance at school shouldn't hold you back for life. Adults should be entitled to gain basic qualifications (Levels 2 and 3) and should not be deterred by cost of fees or lack of financial support.

We will reform Train to Gain to scrap tuition fees for an adult wanting to take their first level 3 qualification

In our first year in government we will also fund the off-the-job training costs of adult apprenticeships, making it easier for apprentices to take them on - opening up opportunities for more adults wanting to learn new skills.