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.

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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