Where the parties stand: Education

EDUCATION

Alliance: More money for schools, more teachers on higher salaries. Scrap bulk funding and state funding of private schools. Schools must take all local students. Pay parity for kindergarten and school teachers.

Labour: Stop bulk funding of teachers' salaries. Central database of all school-age children to stop truancy. Trial after-school homework centres. Work towards pay parity for kindergarten teachers. No national primary school tests. Review future of Education Review Office.

NZ First: More money for rural schools, no national tests for primary school children, lower class sizes for poor schools, sabbatical leave for teachers.

National: All children able to read, write and do maths by age nine. Trial nationwide reading and maths tests for nine and 11-year-olds. Continue voluntary bulk funding of teachers' salaries, allow schools to manage own property too.

Act: Voucher system, allowing parents to spend their child's share of funding at school of their choice. Encourage state schools to opt out of government control and become independent. Schools would make own decisions, including how much to pay teachers.

Greens: More local schools, smaller classes. Schools fully funded by taxation. Environmental education from pre-school.

Mauri Pacific: Compulsory Maori up to Form Two in schools. Voucher system, allowing parents to spend their child's share of funding at school of their choice. Pilot Pacific Island schools in South Auckland and Porirua.

United: Lower class sizes, spend more on teaching English to immigrants, kura kaupapa schools, remedial teaching in maths and reading.

Christian Heritage: State-funded education vouchers would pay for children to attend public or private school. All young people under 20 must be in jobs, education or training.

TERTIARY EDUCATION

Alliance: Scrap fees over three years, pay all students living allowance at level of unemployment benefit, scrap interest payments on all student loans. Abolish loan scheme once tertiary education is entirely free.

Labour: Scrap interest payments on student loans for fulltime, low-income students while they study. Waive interest payments for borrowers until income reaches $25,000, phase in full payments by $30,000. Increase course subsidies to "stabilise" student fees.

NZ First: Interest on student loans at inflation rate during study, inflation plus 2 per cent afterwards. Students can work off loans by taking jobs in areas with skills shortages. Restore fee subsidies to 1998 level.

National: Allow students to write off up to 25 per cent of interest while studying from next year. Award scholarships for top students from secondary to post-doctorate level, partly funded by employers. Reviewing future shape of tertiary education.

Act: Privatise student loans scheme with government covering cost of unpaid loans, thus lowering interest rates by a third. Voucher system allowing students to spend their share of funding on any course that meets approved standards. 7.

Greens: Phase out student loans scheme, pay all fulltime students at level of community wage. Study costs tax-deductible for part-timers. Students can write off debt by working. Interest on existing loans set at inflation rate.

Mauri Pacific: No tax payments for student loan borrowers until loans are paid off. Spend extra $30 million on wananga (Maori universities).

United: More money for tertiary institutions, especially for higher degrees.

Christian Heritage: Phase out student loans, replace with scholarships and bursaries for top students, funded by employer sponsorship and government scholarships. Tax cuts for businesses which fund tertiary education.