Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 233: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of children in primary schools in County Limerick in class sizes of between 25-30 and in classes of over 30 students. [12586/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the average class nationally in 2004-05, the latest year for which data are available, was 23.9. The average class size in both Limerick city and Limerick county were below the national average in that year. Both areas have also benefitted from a significant drop in average class size as a result of the extra teachers that have been put in place in our primary schools by this Government.

The average class size in Limerick City in 2004-05 was 22.4, down from 27.1 in 1996-97. In Limerick county the average class size in 2004-05 was 23.7, down from 25.9 in 1996-97. The number of children in classes of over 30 has also been dramatically reduced in both Limerick city and county and indeed has almost halved in the city under this Government.

Mainstream staffing of a primary school is determined by applying the enrolment of the school on 30 September of the previous school year to a staffing schedule, which is issued annually to all primary schools. The general rule is that the schedule provides at least one classroom teacher for every 29 pupils in the school. Of course, schools with only one or two teachers have much lower staffing ratios than that with two teachers for just 12 pupils in some cases but the general rule is that there is at least one classroom teacher for every 29 children in the school.

Where some classes in a school have class sizes of greater than 29, it is generally because a decision has been taken at local level to use their teaching resources to have smaller numbers in other classes. It should also been noted that the average class size in the 30-35 group nationally was 32 in 2004-05.

At the time of the 2006 Estimates, I announced that this general rule of providing at least one teacher for every 29 pupils, would be improved to provide in general that there would be at least one classroom teacher for every 28 children in the 2006-07 school year and at least one classroom teacher for every 27 children in the 2007-08 school year.

At explained above, even with the fact that all schools are staffed at present on the basis of a general rule of at least one classroom teacher for every 29 pupils, some schools will end up with more than 30 pupils in a class. The data available to my Department show that in 2004-05, 4416 pupils in Limerick county were in classes of 25-29 and 3,198 pupils were in classes of 30 or more. The average class size in the county was 23.7.

This Government's commitment to improving the staffing in our primary schools has been unprecedented. We have put over 5,000 more primary teachers in our schools in the last few years. These have been targeted at pupils with special needs and those from disadvantaged areas to ensure that they are getting the extra help that they need to reach their potential. This has resulted in a major improvement in the pupil-teacher ratio, which counts all the teachers in a school, including special needs teachers and school principals. In 1997 the pupil-teacher ratio was 22:1, meaning that there was one teacher for every 22 primary school children in our schools. By 2004-05 we had reduced this to 17:1, or one teacher for every 17 pupils.

Significantly smaller class sizes have been introduced in disadvantaged schools involved in the giving children an even break programme and the breaking the cycle programme, with approximately 47,700 pupils in 243 participating schools availing of reduced class sizes of either 15 or 20 pupils per class. Under the new action plan for tackling disadvantage published last May, more children in disadvantaged schools will be in smaller classes in the current school year. With the more than 600 extra resource teachers put in place this school year, children with special needs are getting more support than ever before.

In speaking about staffing in our schools, we have consistently said that priority would be given in the first instance to children in disadvantaged schools and those with special needs. We have done this. In line with the Government commitment, mainstream class sizes are also being reduced.