It seems likely that we are just over a year away from a general election. The landscape for any incoming government will be challenging, to say the least, with multiple demands on an already stretched public purse.

But this week, the Education Policy Institute (EPI), in work funded by the Nuffield Foundation, made the case for greater attention and support for education by publishing its analysis of what the key priorities of any incoming government should be across the early years, schools, colleges and universities.

The broad scope reflects both the number of challenges and how so many are related.

1. Improve early years funding

For example, we know around 40 per cent of the gap between disadvantaged students and their peers at GCSE is evident before children even start school.

As such, children from low-income backgrounds are the ones who could benefit most from a high-quality early years education and any government that is serious about improving outcomes would make it a priority.

But the current system risks squeezing children out because of the high costs to parents - equivalent to a quarter of the average wages for a young family - and because providers are being funded below the cost of offering a place.

Funding could be better targeted towards children from low-income families by raising the early years pupil premium to the same level as the pupil premium in primary schools.

The Family Hubs model could also provide families with a place to go for support, information and advice, though this does require a rigorous evaluation so the government can continue to learn about what does and doesn’t work.

2. Make the disadvantage gap a major focus

We also need a renewed focus from the government on the disadvantage gap. The pandemic has undoubtedly exacerbated the problem, but progress in closing the gap had already stalled by 2019 and it is now at its widest in over a decade.

Part of the challenge is the growing prevalence of persistent disadvantage - pupils spending most of their time in school eligible for free school meals.

These pupils have some of the lowest outcomes, yet there is little in the funding system that reflects their particular circumstances.

3. Boost pupil premium funding

As part of our look at education funding, we make the case that there should be a factor within the national funding formula. That is not to say that funding is currently sufficient for other pupils from low-income backgrounds.

Indeed, the pupil premium has fallen in value by 11 per cent in real terms since 2014-15, made worse by the fact that schools have faced a wider squeeze on their budgets.

A first step should be returning to at least the same level in real terms, and also extending the premium into post-16.

And of course, we could reduce the need for education settings to deal with the effects of economic disadvantage if we had an effective cross-government child poverty strategy that was doing the heavy lifting upstream.

4. A strong, skilled and content workforce

Finally, the foundation on which the success of the education system will be built is the workforce, and that means making sure teaching is an attractive career option.

The Early Career Framework and national professional qualifications have been steps towards a more professionalised, evidence-informed workforce but teacher pay has become less competitive, particularly in the further education sector and in shortage subjects.

There is potentially a role for widening the reach of the levelling up premium and the use of early career payments to retain teachers in shortage subjects.

When we set out the challenges in detail like this, it is easy to become despondent about what is ahead. That is not our intention.

These challenges matter because education is not simply another call on the public purse but an investment in all of our futures. Get it right and we are all better off.

Emily Hunt is associate director at the EPI and author of the report, Education priorities in the next general election