UKIP also released its manifesto today.
The Liberal Democrat manifesto focuses on education and commits to protecting spending for two- to 19-year-olds in real terms over the next Parliament.
This commitment would lead to an extra £2.5 billion spending by 2020, the Liberal Democrats claim.
The funding would be used to expand early years education, ensure that there are qualified teachers in every class, recruit and retain more good teachers, and help schools to offer more one-to-one and small group tuition.
All children of working families would be eligible for free childcare of 20 hours a week between the ages of two and four years old.
The extra money will also provide 70,000 teachers, 10,000 learning support assistants and guarantee funding for the extra 460,000 children starting school through the parliament, the party says.
The Early Years Pupil premium would also be increased to £1,000 per pupil per year.
The party would also consider whether the pupil premium should be extended and introduce ‘a fair National Funding Formula’.
The Liberal Democrats would also set ‘a clear ambition for all children to achieve a good grasp of maths and English, aiming to eradicate child illiteracy and innumeracy by 2025’ and ‘an interim goal that all children should start school with good language skills by 2020.’
Free school meals would also be extended to all primary school children ‘as resources allow and following a full evaluation of free meals for infants.’
Family support services offered in children’s centres would also be protected.
Teaching
The Liberal Democrats have pledged to ‘improve the quality of early years teaching, and raise the status of those who work in early years.’
All ‘formal early years settings’ would need to employ at least one person with an Early Years Teacher qualification by 2020.
Full Qualified Teacher Status terms and conditions would also be extended ‘to all those who are properly trained’, the manifesto says.
All teachers in state-funded schools would need to be fully qualified or working towards QTS from September 2016.
A new Royal College of Teachers would be led by the profession and eventually oversee QTS and professional development.
The Liberal Democrats would also ‘raise the bar’ to the teaching profession by requiring a B grade in maths and English and abolishing separate maths and English tests.
Teaching practice would not be dictated by ministers and there would be no instructions 'about how to structure the school day or what kind of lessons to conduct.’
Launching the manifesto, Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg said, ‘We want to ensure that every child, no matter where they are born, the colour of their skin, or how rich their parents are, has the same opportunity to reach their potential is.
‘That’s why the Liberal Democrats are the party of education.
‘At the last election, protecting schools spending and investing huge amounts of extra money towards the poorest pupils was one of our top priorities.
‘I am immensely proud that we did just that in Government. But we won’t rest there. We are determined to make sure that every child in Britain has a world class education.’
Commenting on the manifesto Liz Bayram, chief executive of PACEY, said, 'While we welcome the Liberal Democrat’s manifesto promises on childcare, our concern is that an extension of free entitlement will not address the fundamental problems due to under investment of childcare in this country.
'All three main parties have now laid out there stall, and with each there is this fundamental promise of increased free care, although little talk of how they propose to improve quality.
'Many childcare professionals have struggled with cuts in local authority funding for free places during the current administration, and without further support and investment, providers will struggle to deliver the high quality service that children deserve.
'For our members, recognition of the essential role played by childcare professionals, and clear plans to enhance the status of the profession would be more welcome than more promises of free childcare without a clear outline of how it will be adequately funded.'
UKIP
The use of childcare vouchers and tax-free childcare schemes would be extended to informal, non-Ofsted registered childminders, in plans set out in the UKIP manifesto.
UKIP says the policy would help create a society where childcare provision is affordable and accessible for all parents, whatever their socio-economic status.
Within its manifesto, the political party also proposes to amend planning legislation to ensure more nurseries are built to expand childcare places, and offer wraparound childcare before and after school for every child.
Its other plans include giving parents easy access to emergency childcare through their local authority, along with initiating a ‘thorough’ review of childcare and child safeguarding systems.
UKIP’s manifesto says that it ‘believes in an education system that works for every child, regardless of their social background or academic ability.’
The political party would prioritise teaching and learning, and bring forward improvements to primary, secondary and higher education.
It would abolish Key Stage 1 SAT tests and end sex education for primary school children.
The party also proposes easing teachers’ workloads by cutting down on assessments, data collection and appraisals, as well as scrapping teachers’ performance-related pay.
