Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 1851: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of children in County Monaghan being taught in this school term in classes of more than 30 pupils; the corresponding figure for 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30401/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Data for the current school year, 2008/09, is not available as the Annual Primary School Census has yet to take place.

In the school year 2007/2008, of 6,561 primary school pupils in County Monaghan, 1,276 were taught in classes of 30 or more.

The mainstream staffing schedule allocates teachers within enrolment bands and the current bands are based on an average of 27 pupils. While the schedule allocates on the basis of an average each individual school decides how to arrange its classes. This means for example that two different schools that have the same enrolment and as a result are allocated the same number of teachers may choose to configure their classes differently. Depending on a school's own circumstances one school may aim for a very even distribution across all class groups while another school may choose to have lower numbers in a particular class group or groups with consequently larger numbers in other classes. With over 20,000 individual classes spread across all schools throughout the country there will always be differences in individual class sizes.

I appreciate that an even distribution and splitting classes may not always be an option for a particular school, because for example there might be a large group in junior infants and a small group in sixth class and so on. But where it is possible, I believe that principals should consider the benefits of having smaller multi-grade classes as against having particularly large differences in class sizes at different levels in the school.

Multi-grade classes are the norm in the majority of our primary schools given the number of relatively small schools that have 4 teachers or less and there is no evidence whatsoever that being taught in a multi-grade setting is to the detriment of the child. I think more principals should consider multi-grade classes where they are in the best interests of pupils who might otherwise find themselves in a single grade large class.