Britain’s shame over crowded classrooms

PRIMARY school class sizes in Britain are among the largest in the developed world, a report said yesterday.

DISGRACE Class sizes must be cut to maximise learning opportunities DISGRACE: Class sizes must be cut to maximise learning opportunities

This is despite the fact that we spend more per pupil than most other countries.[>

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The UK has nearly 26 students in each state classroom, compared with the average of 21.5 pupils, according to a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.[>

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Only Japan, Korea and Turkey have larger classes.[>

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Lib Dem spokesman David Laws said: “These figures are a disgrace and demonstrate how large class sizes are in our schools, even in comparison with much poorer countries.”[>

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The OECD researchers  found that Britain also has the largest difference between the numbers of pupils in state and private school classrooms.[>

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The report said: “In primary education in the UK there are 13 pupils more per classroom in public institutions than in private ones, whereas on average across OECD countries, class sizes do not differ between public and private institutions by more than one or two students per class.”[>

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Another report released yesterday – by think-tank Civitas –  found that at infant school level, small classes are essential to young children’s educational achievement.[>

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It noted that class sizes are too big and must be cut to “maximise learning opportunities among infants”.[>

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Evidence shows that classes of 20 pupils or under for the first three years of school “produce long-term benefits for literacy and numeracy, especially for low achievers”, it added.[>

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Authors of the OECD’s annual Education At A Glance report analysed school progress in more than 30 countries.[>

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They found that while the UK performs strongly in some areas, it lags behind in others.[>

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For example, the UK invests more money per child in pre-school education than every other country except Austria, Iceland and the US.[>

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It also has one of the highest participation rates for young children, with 90 per cent of those under four in pre-school programmes.[>

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But the number of teenagers staying on is still relatively low, with just 69.7 per cent of 15 to 19-year-olds remaining in education. The OECD average is 81.5 per cent, and only Mexico and Turkey have lower rates.[>

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While the UK continues to produce good graduation rates at university, it is beginning to drop behind other countries massively expanding their education systems.[>

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The Department for Children said classes had become steadily smaller in the past 10 years with better adult to pupil ratios. In 1997 there were 17 pupils per adult at primary level. Now there are 12.[>

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