Class sizes U-turn slammed

LARGER class sizes and less subject choice is the prospect for school children after the Department of Education decided to increase pupil teacher ratios in a strongly-criticised reversal of Government promises.

Primary schools will only be allowed one teacher for every 28 pupils from next September, up from the current level of 27 children. This comes in spite of a commitment in last year’s Programme for Government to reduce the staffing schedule from the 27:1 pupil teacher ratio at the time to one teacher for every 24 children by September 2010.

At second level, schools will be allocated a teacher for every 19 students, compared to the current ratio of 18 students per teacher, despite commitments in the Programme for Government to prioritise class size reductions in core subjects.