Holyrood election 2016: Where the parties stand on education

Voters in Scotland go to the polls on Thursday 5 May to choose their next MSPs. But where do the parties stand on key issues? Here we look at education and early years.

Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon makes pledges on education

  • a baby box of essential items for every newborn

  • increase early years education and childcare to 30 hours per week

  • expand the Attainment Fund and invest an additional £750m in the next parliament to close the gap in educational attainment

  • university education will remain free of tuition fees

Scottish Labour Party leader Kezia Dugdale makes pledges on education

  • 1p on all rates of income tax for education, 50p top rate for those earning more than £150,000

  • Fair Start Fund of £300 for every nursery pupil from a deprived background, with head teachers receiving £1,000 for every primary pupil from a deprived background

  • universal Scottish graduate certificate encompassing academic, vocational and voluntary achievement

  • every child in care that wants to go to higher education given full grant support of £6,000

Scottish Conservative Party leader Ruth Davidson makes pledges on education

  • attainment money should follow the pupil

  • unfreeze council tax to fund education

  • graduates to pay £6,000 towards their education once they are earning more than £20,000 a year

  • reverse cuts to Scotland's further education sector

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie makes pledges on education

  • 1p on all rates of income tax for education leading to raise more than £500m for schools, colleges and nurseries

  • £170m per year for Pupil Premium to provide extra help to children who need it at school and no national testing

  • reverse college cuts with £108m investment in a year

  • extend free nursery provision to all two-year-old children, with extra support for the most vulnerable families from an earlier age

Scottish Green Party co-convener Patrick Harvie makes pledges on education

  • an additional 4,000 full-time equivalent school teachers to be hired over the course of the coming parliament

  • statutory guarantee of minimum education hours for every Scottish child of 27.5 hours a week during secondary and 25 hours during primary

  • all students will be entitled to a non-repayable living grant as a step towards a Citizen's Income

  • resist plans for a return to standardised national testing in schools

  • reintroduce grammar schools

  • create technical schools on the German model for those not academically inclined

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