Liberals believe that education should be more than just a preparation for work (important though that is) but a means of enriching the lives of individuals and the community.
All three main parties agree in principle with the National Curriculum. Liberals, however, disagree. The National Curriculum gives power to the Secretary of State for Education to determine what will be taught in every school. We believe this sort of central direction to be unnecessary and dangerous. It has resulted in a massive increase in administration and reduced parental choice by forcing all schools to teach the same things in the same way.
Liberals would like to see schools developing their own approaches, subject only to the maintenance of acceptable standards.
The present system requires schools to compete for pupils, which favours those already best resourced. Governors have been saddled with the impossible task of allocating inadequate budgets while the content of the curriculum, teaching methods and testing are all tightly restricted by central government.
We do not believe that the workings of a market are appropriate to education and propose that competition between schools should be replaced by a stronger voice for parents, the local community and pupils themselves.
The differing advantages of small and large schools can be brought together by structuring the school system to provide schools organised on a collegiate basis with shared facilities.
Access to learning should not be restricted by age but continue throughout life. Secondary schools could have a larger role in adult education and be looked on as a resource for the whole community rather than just the young.
Even if the burden of the National Curriculum was removed we consider that education would still be underfunded. In particular there is now a serious backlog of building maintenance in most schools which will be expensive to rectify.
Liberals are strong supporters of nursery education, not only as an aid to working parents, but also because it lays a good foundation for all that follows. We also believe that education would be greatly improved by a significant reduction in class sizes and advocate a maximum of thirty.