One in five of city’s primary pupils in classes of 30 plus

Date Published: 08-Sep-2009

ONE in five students in the city’s primary schools was educated in a class of more than 30 pupils last year. The Department of Education warns that the figure is expected to rise this year as a result of budget cuts in teacher allocation.
It has compiled head counts from every primary school in Ireland for the academic year 2008-2009, among them the 23 schools in the city. Of the 6,385 pupils attending these primary school, 1,245, or
nearly 20%, are in class sizes of between 30 and 34.
Some 30% of students (1,972) – the largest proportion of the city national school population – were in classes with between 20 and 24 others, closely followed by 29% (1,859) of pupils in classes of between 25 and 29.
A further 20% were in smaller classes made up of between 10 and 19. A tiny number of students (26), or 0.4% of the young student population, were in classes with less than nine others.
Nationally, the figures show an average class size of 24.3 children, which is three more than the European average. In all, 92,000 children are being educated in classes of 30 or more pupils and 5,000 are being educated in classes of more than 35. The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation said the figures show clearly the problem of overcrowded classes.
Under measures introduced in the last budget, class sizes will now be increased to 28 pupils per one teacher – the largest pupil teacher ratio of any of the 27 EU states.