Pupil-Teacher Ratio.

Tuesday, 20 February 2007

Questions (449, 450)

Paul McGrath

Question:

522 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science the average class size for primary schools in County Longford for each of the past 10 years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6466/07]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Education and Science (Ms Hanafin)

Information in relation to class sizes is provided in the annual census of primary schools. The census for the current school year (2006/2007) is currently being worked on.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that this Government has halved the number of children in Longford in classes of 30 or more and has reduced the number in classes of 35 or more by 75%.

The details of average class size in Co. Longford for the previous 10 years are included in the following table.

Major improvements have been made in staffing at primary level in recent years.

At the beginning of the current school year there were 4000 more primary teachers, compared with 2002. The average class size in our primary schools is 24 and there is now one teacher for 17 pupils at primary level, including resource teachers etc.

Children with special needs and those from disadvantaged areas are getting more support than ever before to help them to make the most of their time at school.

Indeed, with the thousands of extra primary teachers hired by this Government, recent years have seen the largest expansion in teacher numbers since the expansion of free education. Furthermore, the Government is committed to providing even more primary teachers next year to reduce class sizes.

As you know all primary schools are staffed on a general rule of at least one classroom teacher for every 28 children. Of course, schools with only one or two teachers have much lower staffing ratios than that — with two teachers for just 12 pupils in some cases and so on — but the general rule is that there is at least one classroom teacher for every 28 children in the school. Next September this will reduce to 27 children per classroom teacher.

A further initiative that has been of direct benefit to primary schools has been the change in the criteria for developing schools. For the current school year the threshold for getting a developing school post was reduced specifically to help schools that are seeing large increases in enrolments each year. Over 280 such posts were sanctioned in the 2006/07 school year compared to 170 in 2005/06.

The improvements we have made in school staffing in recent years are absolutely unparalleled.

But we are determined to go even further, and so the 2007 Estimates include provision for another 800 primary teachers. About 500 of these will be classroom teachers, which includes our commitment to reduce class sizes.

I assure the Deputy that we will continue to prioritise further improvements in school staffing going forward. We will also continue our focus on measures to improve the quality of education in our primary schools to ensure that increased resources lead to better outcomes for our children.

Average Class Size — Longford

County	Year	Total Pupils	No. of Classes	Average Class Size
Longford	2005/2006	3,610	166	21.7
	2004/2005	3,544	165	21.5
	2003/2004	3,484	166	21.0
	2002/2003	3,442	165	20.9
	2001/2002	3,462	162	21.4
	2000/2001	3,463	163	21.2
	1999/2000	3,549	158	22.5
	1998/1999	3,797	161	23.6
	1997/1998	3,895	161	24.2
	1996/1997	4,073	165	24.7

Paul McGrath

Question:

523 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science the average class size for primary schools in County Westmeath for each of the past 10 years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6467/07]

View answer

Minister for Education and Science (Ms Hanafin)

Information in relation to class sizes is provided in the annual census of primary schools. The census for the current school year (2006/2007) is currently being worked on.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that this Government has significantly reduced the number of children in Westmeath in classes of 30 or more and has cut the number in classes of 35 or more by 75%. The details of average class size for the previous 10 years in Co. Westmeath are included in the table provided.

Average Class Size — Westmeath

County	Year	Total Pupils	No. of Classes	Average Class Size
Westmeath	2005/2006	9,238	378	24.4
	2004/2005	9,034	378	23.9
	2003/2004	8,923	370	24.1
	2002/2003	8,735	366	23.9
	2001/2002	8,696	356	24.4
	2000/2001	8,373	343	24.4
	1999/2000	7,965	325	24.5
	1998/1999	8,282	332	24.9
	1997/1998	8,490	333	25.5
	1996/1997	8,701	338	25.7

Major improvements have been made in staffing at primary level in recent years. At the beginning of the current school year there were 4000 more primary teachers, compared with 2002. The average class size in our primary schools is 24 and there is now one teacher for 17 pupils at primary level, including resource teachers etc.

Children with special needs and those from disadvantaged areas are getting more support than ever before to help them to make the most of their time at school. Indeed, with the thousands of extra primary teachers hired by this Government, recent years have seen the largest expansion in teacher numbers since the expansion of free education. Furthermore, the Government is committed to providing even more primary teachers next year to reduce class sizes.

The improvements we have made in school staffing in recent years are absolutely unparalleled. But we are determined to go even further, and so the 2007 Estimates include provision for another 800 primary teachers. About 500 of these will be classroom teachers, which includes our commitment to reduce class sizes.