The Government is moving to increase maximum sentences for knife-related offences while beefing up education and placing restrictions on the sale of knives.

A unified qualifications framework will make life easier for employers and people who want to study, Steven Joyce says.

Places at many popular universities will be restricted next year to students who gain top marks at high school.

The number of known leaking schools is now 145, double the estimate in September last year. The worst will benefit from $82 million allocated in the Budget for remedial work in the next year.

The education sector has had to come up with more than half of the $1.9 billion to fund new education initiatives over the next four years.

Turnover rates at some schools are sitting at around 56 per cent - more than half of the children who start the year don't finish there.