Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

Class size data for primary schools is compiled by my Department on an annual basis. The source of this data is the annual census of primary schools. Data for each school year is made available when returns for all schools in respect of the year in question have been processed. Schools will not be making returns in respect of the 2009-10 school year until after 30 September 2009 and, allowing for obtaining returns from all schools and the normal checking and processing of this data, the position will be known in summer 2010.

However, since the changes to the staffing schedule for primary schools announced on budget day restore the basis of allocation of teachers to schools to the position that applied in the 2006-07 school year, it is a reasonable working assumption that average class size in 2009-10 should be quite similar. Schools have flexibility in the way in which they assign pupils and teachers to classes and the Department does not allocate teachers to specific classes or age groups. That is why precise information to enable compilation of the national average position is not available until the position in individual schools is captured through the census.

In any discussion of class size and classes where the number of pupils exceed the average it is important to understand how the main staffing schedule sets out to treat schools in like circumstances in a fair and consistent manner. The current allocation is based on an average of 27 pupils per teacher and the fact that schools make individual choices in assigning teachers to class groups. With over 20,000 individual classes spread across all schools throughout the country there will always be differences in individual class sizes.

I have no difficulty in setting out for this House or for the public generally what the final impact will be on the overall changes in aggregate teacher numbers in schools for the 2009-10 school year and this applies to final average class size as well. I reiterate that prudent management of Government finances is vital at this time of global economic uncertainty when tax revenue has fallen so significantly. Even with the budget measures in place there will still be a significantly increased borrowing requirement in 2009.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

When the country was able to afford it we reduced the basis on which primary teachers are allocated to schools from being based on an average number of pupils per teacher from 35 pupils down to the current level of 27 pupils. The change to a new average of 28 pupils per teacher has to be viewed in that context. It means primary schools will be staffed exactly as they were during the 2006-07 school year during which they operated well.

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