Party pledges: Education

Conservative: Protect England’s schools budget up to end of GCSEs in cash terms although funding will not keep pace with inflation

Pre-school and post age 16 education not ring fenced

Convert up to 3,500 more schools judged by Ofsted to “require improvement” into academies

Opposed to giving votes to 16 or 17-year-olds for UK elections

Labour: Increase overall education budget in England by at least rate of inflation

Parents of primary school children guaranteed childcare from 8am to 6pm. Free childcare for three and four-year-olds increased from 15 to 25 hours a week

Compulsory sex and relationship education in all schools

Committed to giving votes to 16 and 17-year-olds in UK elections

SNP: Free 30 hours of childcare a week for three and four-year-olds in Scotland. Lower voting age to 16 in all UK elections

Liberal Democrats: Protect education budget from cuts

Compulsory sex education in all state schools

Lower UK voting age to 16

UKIP: Scrap tuition fees for students from poorer backgrounds who take degree courses in the sciences, technology, maths or engineering

More grammar schools

Scrap sex education for children aged under seven

School governing boards to be made up of at least 30% parents of children at the school

Plaid Cymru: Introduce compulsory foreign language GCSE in secondary schools. Scrap tuition fees when public finances allow

Greens: End performance related pay for teachers. Scrap university tuition fees. Allow 16-year-olds to vote in UK elections

Education spending (£ billion at 2014 prices)

07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14

89.6 92.2 95.8 96.4 90.0 88.6 90.2

Expenditure as share of GDP: 5.2%

Lab Con

Sources: Party manifestos, HM Treasury HM, PESA

Picture: Getty Images

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