This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Reductions in class sizes
07/02/2002
Further progress in reducing class sizes in Scotland's primary schools has been reported by the Minister for Education and Young People Cathy Jamieson.
Responding in a Parliamentary Debate today, Ms Jamieson said:
"Reducing class sizes in P1 to P3 has been a key Programme for Government commitment. The results of the 2000 School Census showed that good progress was being made towards reducing primary class sizes in Primary 1, 2, and 3 to thirty pupils or less by August 2001.
"Officials wrote out to local authorities in August 2001 to ask if this target had been met - whether there were any P1-P3 classes over 30 and if any of these were due to "excepted pupils" or if they were classes with two teachers.
"The preliminary results of those enquiries identified that out of over 5,000 P1-P3 classes in Scotland there are only 13 classes that did not comply with the relevant Regulations. In each case, action is being taken by the education authority to resolve the problem. This is a massive reduction from the 939 P1-P3 classes in Scotland that had more than thirty pupils in 1998 before the class size programme began.
"The results also showed there were fifty-three classes that had two teachers present in the classroom to ensure the ratio of at least 1 teacher for every 30 pupils was maintained and 24 classes were over 30 because of "excepted" pupils set out in the Regulations.
"Although these figures are unaudited at this stage, this is extremely good news for parents and children in advance of the publication of validated data from the September 2001 Census in the Spring.
"I know from my visits to schools that teachers, parents and pupils welcome the progress we are making. Initiatives such as Classroom Assistants and the Early Intervention Programme, are making a real difference to children, ensuring that they have the best start in life, and have every opportunity to fulfil their potential."
Regulations made in April 1999 require all P1-P3 pupils to be taught in classes with a teacher pupil ratio of 1:30 or less by August 2001. The regulations took a step by step approach so that all P1 pupils had to meet the target by August 1999, P1 and P2 pupils by August 2000 and P1-P3 pupils by August 2001.
Since 1999, resources totalling just over £47 million from the Excellence Fund have been allocated to local authorities to assist them implement a class size maximum of 30 pupils in all P1 to P3 classes.
Results of the school census will not be available until the Spring and in order to obtain a preliminary view of whether the commitment had been met officials wrote to authorities in August 2001 seeking information on class sizes in P1 -P3 in census week. Definitive results will only be available once the results of the Census have been validated. The position may also have subsequently changed as authorities may only finalise school staffing levels once the pupil numbers from the Census are known. Pupils may also have moved to other schools.
The Education (Lower Primary Class Sizes) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 allow certain circumstances where classes can be over 30. Team teaching is permissible as long as a pupil: teacher ratio of 30:1 is maintained for ordinary teaching sessions. They also allow certain excepted pupils to be excluded from the count. Excepted pupils are:
a. children whose record of special educational needs specify that they should be educated at the school concerned, and who are placed in a school outside a normal placing round;
b. children initially refused a place at a school, but subsequently on appeal offered a place outside a normal placing round or because the education authority recognise that an error was made in implementing their placing arrangements for the school;
c. children who cannot gain a place at any other suitable school within a reasonable distance of their home because they move into an area outside a normal placing round;
d. children who are pupils at special schools, but who receive part of their education at a mainstream school; and
e. children with special educational needs who are normally educated in a special unit in a mainstream school, but who receive part of their education in a non-special class.
Children in categories a to c will be treated as "excepted pupils" only during the school year in which they are first placed in a school.