Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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430. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the teacher student ratio and average class size in primary and secondary schools, by county, from 2020 to 2025, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51265/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I have provided average class sizes by county for the years 2020/21 – 2024/25. Teacher allocations are made to clusters of schools that cross over county boundaries, and ETBs which include multiple counties, therefore pupil teacher ratio (PTR) by county is not available. I have included the overall PTR for the years 2020/21 – 2024/25 for your reference.

Under the Programme for Government there is a commitment to aim to reduce the general pupil teacher ratio at primary level to 19:1 over the term of government and introduce targeted measures in schools with very large classes. This will build on the progress which has been made by the previous Government. The general average of pupils to teachers in the Primary Staffing Schedule improved from 26 : 1 five years ago to 23 : 1 for the current school year, the lowest ever ratio at primary level. More favourable ratios are implemented for DEIS Urban Band 1 schools.

Teachers are currently allocated to post primary schools at a ratio of 19:1 in the free educations system and 23:1 to schools in the fee charging sector.

I am considering how best to make further progress as part of the annual budgetary process with regards to pupil teacher ratio in the context of Programme for Government implementation.

Average primary class size per county 2020 - 2024