According to the Liberal Democrats Party website the Liberal Democrats Party will try to achieve the following if they gain power at the 2010 general election:

Every child needs a good school, but there are so many tests, and so much paperwork and regulations, children don’t get the personal support they need. Liberal Democrats will raise standards, giving extra help to children who fall behind. And we’ll make college and university affordable for everyone so no child’s left behind.

Pupil Premium – We will help break the link between social background and education achievement with a new £2.5bn Pupil Premium, giving extra money to pupils from the most challenging backgrounds. This will increase the per pupil funding of a million pupils to private school levels and schools will be able to use this additional investment to cut class sizes and pay for extra tuition. Instead of wasting money on endless gimmicks that produce headlines but not real solutions we will deliver extra cash directly to the front line

Set schools free, stop Government meddling – Too much of what goes on in schools is determined by Government micro-management. We will give extra freedoms to all schools, in order to help them to drive up standards. We want to encourage school leaders to develop their own local solutions to the challenges which they face. Greater freedom to innovate will help to encourage more high quality school leadership, new sources of school governance, and more excellent teachers.

The Diploma – Instead of a complex and confusing qualification system, we need a framework which stretches the most talented, bridges the gap between vocational and academic and is understood by parents, pupils and employers alike. We will create a General diploma which will use GCSEs and A-Levels as building blocks and enable pupils to mix quality vocational and academic learning.

Education Standards Authority – A fully independent watchdog would safeguard the curriculum from political interference and ensure high standards across the education system.

I would be interested to hear both positive and negative views on Liberal Democrats Education policies in the comments below?