HC Deb 11 December 1996 vol 287 cc272-3
11. Mr. Alan W. Williams

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps she plans to take to reduce class sizes in primary schools. [7061]

Mrs. Gillian Shephard

Decisions about class sizes are a matter for local education authorities and schools.

Mr. Williams

Do the Government now accept what 90 per cent. of parents considered to be self-evident: with a given teacher in a given classroom, the quality of learning and the amount of individual attention given to children's reading, writing and arithmetic are greater in class sizes of 30 rather than 35?

Mrs. Shephard

The hon. Gentleman should refer to the report produced by the Office for Standards in Education specifically on class sizes. He will find that the chief inspector stated that there was no simple link between class size and quality of teaching and learning. If the hon. Gentleman remains as unconvinced as he looks, he should ponder on the fact that in Hackney, long under Labour control, standards at the Hackney Downs school were so deplorable that the school had to be closed, yet it had only eight pupils to every teacher.

Mrs. Peacock

What positive steps is my right hon. Friend taking to encourage all local education authorities to pass 95 per cent. of the budget to schools so that schools can make decisions on class sizes, which is what they really want to do?

Mrs. Shephard

I should hope that such a policy would be so self-evidently sensible to all properly run LEAs that there would be no need for me to encourage them further.

Mr. Kilfoyle

Has the Secretary of State seen the recently published Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report which illustrates how our international competitors have had a substantial improvement in pupil-teacher ratios, leading to reductions in class sizes? The report also notes that, under three successive Tory Governments, the reverse process has occurred in the United Kingdom, leading to increased class sizes. Given that the Government have appropriated huge parts of Labour party policy in their current Education Bill and given that Her Majesty's chief inspector has admitted the link between smaller class sizes and improved performance at key stage 1, will the Secretary of State now join the Labour party in giving a commitment that, at key stage 1, there will be no class of more than 30?

Mrs. Shephard

Perhaps I may remind the hon. Gentleman that his party's class-envious plans to destroy the assisted places scheme—and, with it, opportunities for able children from less well-off families—to reduce class size would yield one extra teacher for every nine schools. I wonder how he would divide them up.

Mr. Nicholas Winterton

I am sure that my right hon. Friend will agree that, although class sizes clearly have a part to play in the attraction of a school, it is the structure and ethos of the school and the quality of teaching that are far more important to parents. Does she accept that, in many rural schools, it is the quality and ethos of the school and the teaching that are important, and that those are the schools that are attractive to parents and to which they want their children to go?

Mrs. Shephard

Parents are well aware of which schools are popular and successful and willingly choose larger classes if they think those schools will do best for their children.