At the heart of Labour’s vision for a fairer society is the chance for every child to make the most of their talents and fulfill their potential. Labour has transformed education for all children over the past ten years.

For the first time, all three and four-year-olds have the right to free nursery education. Today, more primary school children are reaching expected levels in English and maths and more young people are gaining good GCSEs than ever before.

There are over 35,000 more teachers and 172,000 more teaching assistants than in 1997; over 1,100 new schools and over 1,300 Sure Start children's centres.

How can we ensure children from every background get the best start in life?

High quality early years learning makes a real difference to children's development with lasting effects throughout their education. Labour provides free nursery education for all three and four-year-olds whose parents want it. Virtually all four-years-olds and 96 per cent of three-year-olds attend free nursery education

Raising the aspirations of children and their families, particularly the most disadvantaged, must be at the heart of what we do in Government. Working with parents and their children we can achieve this. There are now nearly 1300 Sure Start Children’s Centres, with more opening across the country. Sure Start centres offer access to essential early years services to a million young children and their families. For families with school-age children there are already 4,700 extended offering activities like sport, music and drama outside of school hours.

To ensure that every child reaches their potential, there will be a greater focus on personalised learning in schools, with up to 600,000 pupils benefiting from one-to-one tuition in the coming years.

How do we ensure there is opportunity for lifelong learning available to everyone?

With China and India producing four million graduates a year, we cannot afford to waste the talents of any person. That’s why Labour is committed to offering genuine opportunity for all people in education or training. Today, more young people than ever are entering further education or training. Our target is that by 2015, 90 per cent of young people will participate in education or training after leaving school.

With Labour, more young people than ever before are attending university. The university sector is strong and vibrant, generating £34 million a year in the UK economy. We remain steadfast in our aim that half of all under-30 year olds should participate in higher education.

In Government we have been committed extending opportunities for young people and adults to gain new skills and qualifications. The new Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills will take the government’s commitment forward. It is intolerable that five million adults in the UK today do not have the functional literacy and numeracy skills of an 11-year-old. The free entitlement to a level two qualification for all adults will give every adult the opportunity to renew their basic skills.

Points to consider:

• How can ensure that families have access to flexible nursery education provision to fit around their needs? How do ensure that all children, even the hardest to reach, leave primary school with the necessary skills to succeed?
• How can we raise the educational achievements of the most disadvantaged young people and narrow the achievement gap based on social disadvantage, gender and ethnicity?
• What will be the role of employers and educational institutions in the provision of modern apprenticeships?
• How can we support and encourage more adults to improve their skills?