OECD Report: Education at a Glance 9/9/08

Statement by John Carr, INTO General Secretary, on the OECD Report Education at a Glance

9th September 2008
 
OECD Report Shows No Progress on Class Size

A new international study shows that Ireland’s primary schools have bigger class sizes than almost every other developed country, despite year on year commitments from government to tackle the problem. Irish primary schools have 24.5 pupils per class – the second largest of the EU countries surveyed. On average, there are four more pupils in Irish classes than in other EU countries.

Within the EU, only Britain has larger classes than Ireland with one more pupil per class.

The report, Education at a Glance, is published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Reacting to today's publication, John Carr, General Secretary of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation said it was past time for a government initiative to reduce the size of over-crowded classes. “Since 2002, primary schools have been waiting for government action on class sizes. The fact that Ireland continues to have the second highest classes in the EU shows the lack of progress on the issue.”

He said, “teachers and parents could be forgiven for thinking that the only way progress on over-crowded classes will be made is when Turkey joins the EU. Then Ireland would only have the third most over-crowded classes in Europe.”

The report surveyed 30 countries which make up the OECD. Only Britain, Japan, Korea and Turkey have bigger classes than Ireland. Across the 30 countries, the average class size is 21.5 pupils with Luxembourg recording the smallest at 15.6 pupils per class.

The report also points out that apart from teaching some of the largest classes in the developed world, Irish primary teachers spend more time teaching than teachers in other countries.

According to the report, in the countries examined, a primary school teacher teaches an average of 812 hours per year.  This ranges from less than 650 hours in Denmark and Turkey to more than 1,000 in the USA. The report shows Irish primary teachers teaching for 915 hours per year. This is exceeded only by the Netherlands, New Zealand and the USA. John Carr commented, "not only do Irish primary teachers teach more children than teachers in other countries, they do so for longer. He said these facts, coupled with high academic outcomes for pupils show that Irish teachers deliver real value for money."   
 
Although Irish teachers appear to be paid well in comparison with teachers in other countries, Ireland has one of the lowest per-student salary costs as a percentage of GDP per capita. The report points out that this is due to the comparatively low salary levels as a proportion of GDP per capita.
 
The report also shows that in Ireland, spending on education increased by more than 80% between 1995 and 2005, but GDP more than doubled. In Ireland, the proportion of GDP spent on education decreased by 0.5 percentage point or more between 1995 and 2005, mainly as a result of the decrease in expenditure on educational institutions as a percentage of GDP.
 
Ireland ranks 30 out of 34 counties in terms of education expenditure as a percentage of GDP.
 
ENDS.