2012 PISA Literacy and numeracy tests in 65 countries of 15-year-old students show that the UK is 26th in maths and 23rd in literacy. Students from Ireland, Poland, Estonia, Korea, Taipei and the Czech Republic are among those that scored higher.

John Longworth, Director General of the British Chamber of Commerce, says that business needs a workforce with the literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills that rank in the top ten in the OECD Adult Skills Survey by 2020. Clearly there is room for improvement.

UKIP will trust teachers to teach, cutting out data collection, excessive internal assessments and dialogue-based marking, and abolish Key Stage 1 at 7 years. Performance-related pay will go as it does not reflect teaching ability.

There are 198 grammar schools in this country yet none in Herefordshire. UKIP will give existing secondary schools the opportunity to become a grammar school but introduce transfer examinations at 12, 13 and 16 so as to pick up on late academic development. The range of choices in secondary education will be extended to specialist, vocational and technical schools and colleges similar to the German and Dutch models.

By linking schools directly with industry UKIP will introduce an option for students to start an apprenticeship qualification in place of 4 non-core GCSEs. All secondary schools will be funded to a single formula taking into account special educational needs.

UKIP supports age-appropriate sex and relationship education at secondary level – but not for primary school children. UKIP will stop the sexualisation of childhood.

University fees, students taking approved degrees in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine funded by HEFCE will not have to repay their tuition fees, provided they work in their discipline and pay UK tax for five years following completion.