Scotland’s primary class sizes rise for first time under SNP

PRIMARY school class sizes have increased marginally for the first time since the SNP government came to office in 2007, with ministers warning that the “incredibly difficult” economic times were making reductions harder to achieve.

The average primary class size in 2011 was 22.7, up from 22.5 in 2010, ending a five-year run where numbers had either fallen or stayed the same.

There was no rise in P1, with these classes getting smaller on average, but the progress there was offset by increases in both P2 and P3.

The overall rise in class sizes was matched by a small increase in the pupil-teacher ratio in primary, which rose from 15.8 to 16. There was also a small increase in the pupil-teacher ratio in secondary schools.

Education secretary Mike Russell insisted ministers were “sustaining the progress” made over recent years, in which there has been a major increase in the number of young children in classes of 18 or less, and a decrease of classrooms of 26 or more.

However, yesterday’s figures show that, despite these advances, children in P1, P2 and P3 are still more likely to be in a class of more than 26 than in one of less than 18.

While 20.5 per cent of such children are in classes of 18 or less, 23 per cent are in classes of more than 26. The largest proportion – 47 per cent – are in classes of between 21 and 25.

The news comes more than four years after the SNP pledged to cut class sizes in P1, P2 and P3 to 18 pupils or less. The promise was shelved ahead of this year’s Holyrood election, and replaced with a plan to restrict class sizes in P1 to a maximum of 25.

The 2011 manifesto commits the Scottish Government to continue “progressive reductions in class sizes and improved pupil-teacher ratios”. It follows an agreement by ministers and local authority leaders in 2010 to maintain pupil-teacher ratios in P1, P2 and P3.

Scottish Government officials stressed the longer-term reduction since 2006 in primary class sizes, while Mr Russell insisted he was making “slow but steady progress”.

He went on: “You have to look at class sizes in the round. What we see here is progress on class sizes in very difficult circumstances.

“I think if you look at the overall figures, we are continuing to make some progress. For example, P1 class sizes are now at 20.5.

“There are always minor fluctuations, but we are at least sustaining the progress that has been made in very difficult circumstances and I think that is important. Over the piece, we have made progress on class sizes. That is indisputable.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Over the period since 2006, the average class size in primary school has fallen from 23.2 to 22.7, and we have seen a particular improvement in average class sizes across P1-P3 where they have fallen from 23.6 in 2006 to 22.5 in 2011.

“In P1, the number of pupils in classes over 25 is down from 6,896 in 2010 to 638 in 2011 – a decrease of over 90 per cent.”

But opposition parties described the figures as “embarrassing” for the SNP government.

Scottish Tory education spokeswoman Liz Smith said: “They promised smaller class sizes, lower pupil-to-teacher ratios and that they would maintain teacher numbers across the board. Almost everything is going in the opposite direction to what they pledged.”

Mr Russell sought to highlight the improvement for P1. Ministers have focused their efforts on cutting class sizes in pupils’ first year in education in the belief that early intervention reaps the biggest rewards in better school attainment.

There are now a record number of pupils in classes of fewer than 18 – up to 16,179. This is nearly double the figure for 2006, when 8,164 pupils were in such classes.

On average, it means that – compared with 2006 – there are now three fewer children per class in P1.

However, the reduction in P2 and P3 class sizes, which were also covered in the SNP’s 2007 manifesto, has been less dramatic, with the average numbers in P2 falling from 23.7 in 2006 to 23.3 this year, and in P3, from 24.1 to 23.9.