Lib Dems promise to 'get politics out of the classroom'

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg on the campaign trail last week. Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

A new independent education standards watchdog would restrict ministers' ability to interfere with exams and curriculum content under Lib Dem plans to "get politics out of the classroom".

Establishing an Educational Standards Authority (ESA) is part of a plan for England which will also include setting up a new Royal College of Teachers

Other measures include curbing some of the reforms put in place by Tory Michael Gove when he was education secretary, with the Lib Dems insisting that all teachers in state-funded schools - including academies and free schools - have qualified status or are working towards it.

The Liberal Democrat manifesto promises on education. Credit: Liberal Democrats

A slimmed-down core national curriculum would also be compulsory in all state schools - bringing free schools and academies in line with those run by councils.

The Lib Dems have also committed to increase funding for the education budget for two to 19-year-olds by 2020, ensuring that the amount of cash per pupil is protected in real terms.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who will visit a school in Cornwall later today, said:

Clegg also renewed his attack on Tory plans for education funding, claiming that they will spend £5.2 billion a year less by 2020 than his party, the equivalent of four teachers on starting salary in every school in England.

"The Tories are wilfully taking an axe to our vital public services and their agenda will hit teachers and schools hard," he said.

The Liberal Democrats' five-point plan includes:

  • Protecting per pupil education spending in real terms over the next parliament and increasing the education budget as a whole

  • A guarantee all teachers in state-funded schools will be fully qualified or working towards Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) by September 2016

  • Establishing the Royal College of Teachers to oversee QTS and professional development, supporting the Teach First programme to attract high calibre graduates into teaching

  • Setting up a new National Leadership Institute for head teachers and senior staff to "promote high-quality leadership targeting the most challenging schools in the UK"

  • Establishing the ESA to remove ministerial interference in curriculum content and exam standards, with a new slimmed-down core curriculum to be taught in all state schools

A Conservative Party spokesman said: "Decisions about what is in the curriculum should lie in the hands of those who can be held to account by parents at the ballot box - not unelected bureaucrats as proposed by the Lib Dems.

"The Lib Dems can't run on their record and run away from it at the same time."

"The biggest risk to our education system would be the chaos of Ed Miliband as Prime Minister - and voting Lib Dem will only make that more likely," he added.