Class Size 31/8/08

Statement by John Carr, INTO General Secretary, on Class Size

31st August 2008
 
Government figures on class size show failure not success - INTO
 
The INTO said that figures released today showing a small decrease in the percentage of pupils in classes of more than thirty was a very weak attempt by the government to cover up its failure to reduce class sizes as promised.  
 
According to figures from the Department of Education and Science the percentage of children in classes of more than thirty fell from 25% in 2006 to 20% in 2007.
 
“This is light years away from the government’s promise to reduce class sizes for young children to less than twenty,” said John Carr, INTO General Secretary. “In 2002,” said Carr, “before children starting school tomorrow were born, government promised class sizes of less than 20 for young children. Now in a poor attempt to mask its own failure, government is trying to highlight a marginal reduction in the number of super-sized classes.”
 
“These figures show failure not success,” he claimed.
 
“The fact remains that more than 100,000 pupils, many of them infants starting school for the first time tomorrow will be in classes of more than thirty. Parents will not be taken in by these government figures and will see the reality of large class sizes themselves when they take their children into school tomorrow morning.”
 
The union claims the situation could even be worse than government is claiming because of the broken promises on class size in the last December’s budget. “As a result of the budget,” said Carr, “dozens of schools have had to let teachers go. Many of these will open in the morning with fewer teachers but more pupils.
 
“Playing with statistics will not fool anyone," said Carr. "Parents and teachers want to see real results in terms of smaller classes for young children.”
 
ENDS.