Education is one of the biggest issues in the general election and its importance is rising in the lead up to polling day, according to a survey of parents.

When asked to choose the two or three most important issues in this election, parents put education third, at 28 per cent, after the NHS (55 per cent) and EU/Brexit (29 per cent), according to the NEU teaching union’s survey findings.

This is a rise of 2 per cent since the same question was put two weeks ago.

Election 2019: Lib Dems’ manifesto pledges for schools

Labour: Labour’s Ofsted and Sats bonfire  

Conservatives: Funding at heart of Tory manifesto offer for schools 

The findings come despite the Conservatives believing that school funding has been taken off the election radar thanks to the party’s pledge to pump £7.1 billion into the system over three years.

The poll of parents was conducted last week at a time when the major parties were gaining media coverage for the launch of their manifestos, although the bulk of their education policies were already in the public domain.

The poll found that:

• Nearly two-fifths (38 per cent) of respondents have seen Labour talking about education. This compares with 27 per cent for the Conservatives, 16 per cent for the Liberal Democrats, 8 per cent for the Brexit Party, and 4 per cent apiece for UKIP and the Greens.
• More than a quarter (26 per cent) were most impressed by Labour’s policies, with 16 per cent saying they were most impressed by the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats 10 per cent, the Brexit Party 5 per cent, UKIP 2 per cent and the Greens 3 per cent.

Findings from a Tes survey published last week found that most teachers backed Labour’s education policies, followed by those of the Liberal Democrats and then the Conservatives.

The NEU poll of 1,000 parents of school-age children in England was conducted by Deltapoll between 22-25 November.