(Limerick East) asked the Minister for Education what she will offer as a solution when schools can prove that bigger classes simply will not physically fit into their classrooms at either primary or post-primary level.
Written Answers. - Class Size.
20.
I am establishing a Primary Quota Review Committee which will examine cases where the implementation of the revisions in the staffing arrangements for national schools announced in Circular 20/87 would create unacceptably large classes. These cases will be examined on a school by school and class by class basis taking into account the needs of the school and the existing staffing and accommodation. Among the guidelines for the operation of the committee are that class sizes must be appropriate to the actual size of the classroom. It would be open to the committee to recommend, inter alia, a reorganisation of classes or the retention of a teaching post which would otherwise be discontinued.
With regard to post-primary schools the matter of the organisational arrangements in the schools is one for consideration by the school authorities. I do not accept the implication in the question that the implementation of the new staffing regulations will result in undue difficulty in school organisation.