§ Mrs. Margaret EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide a breakdown by subject of class sizes from years S1 to S6 categorised according to(a) normal classes, for class sizes (i) under 20, (ii) 20 to 24, (iii) 25 to 30 and (iv) over 30 and (b) practical classes, for class sizes (i) under 15, (ii) 16 to 20 and (iii) over 20.
§ Mr. Lang[holding answer 21 May 1990]: The information requested is shown in the form of a percentage distribution of subject groups by average teaching group in roll bands, using provisional figures for September 1989.
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Distribution of average teaching group roll Percentages Pupil Roll Band (over and up to) 0–15 15–20 20–25 25–30 30 any Total number 100 per cent. Stage 1 English 3.3 5.9 26.8 56.4 7.7 2,306 Modern Languages 3.9 6.8 26.3 53.9 9.1 2,252 Classical Subjects 3.1 11.7 22.1 53.5 9.5 452 Mathematical Subject 4.7 9.7 26.5 51.8 7.3 2,299 Business Subjcts 25.1 59.4 8.9 4.8 1.8 271 Computing Subjects 33.8 49.3 4.4 10.6 1.9 1,167 Science Subjects 8.8 89.5 1.3 0.4 0.0 3,459 Technical Subjects 15.4 81.1 2.3 1.0 0.1 3,372 Social Subjects 4.7 7.3 25.9 54.6 7.5 4,615 Religious Education 5.4 13.8 23.1 49.9 7.8 1,932 Home Economics 18.4 78.9 1.6 0.8 0.2 3,224 Creative/Aesthetic Subjects 14.3 61.3 10.6 11.8 2.0 9,599 Other Subjects 23.2 29.1 18.3 26.5 2.9 2,035 Total 11.7 45.3 14.1 25.2 3.7 36,983 Stage 2 English 3.7 6.4 25.6 57.3 7.1 2,328 Modern Languages 7.3 8.1 29.0 47.6 8.0 2,601 Classical Subjects 18.9 14.3 21.3 37.6 7.9 455 Mathematical Subject 5.5 9.5 28.3 51.2 5.6 2,378 Business Subjects 28.1 47.3 11.3 11.5 1.8 391 Computing Subjects 33.2 52.7 4.3 7.4 2.5 1,414 Science Subjects 7.4 91.0 0.9 0.6 0.2 3,817 Technical Subjects 14.3 84.4 0.8 0.3 0.2 3,542 Social Subjects 5.7 5.9 20.9 59.4 8.0 5,292 Religious Education 6.6 12.8 20.9 51.4 8.2 1,946 Home Economics 16.7 81.2 1.5 0.4 0.2 3,132 Creative/Aesthetic Subjects 14.5 62.1 11.1 10.8 1.5 9,721 Other Subjects 27.6 31.7 11.1 24.4 5.2 2,135 Total 12.3 45.6 13.2 25.2 3.7 39,152 Stage 3 English 3.9 9.2 61.0 25.7 0.2 2,711 Modern Languages 26.5 29.3 31.6 12.5 0.2 1,686 Classical subjects 85.8 5.7 6.3 1.7 0.6 176 Mathematical subject 4.1 12.3 60.6 22.8 0.2 2,669 Business subjects 40.6 51.5 4.9 2.7 0.4 1,652 Computing subjects 24.6 71.4 3.2 0.5 0.3 1,096 Science subjects 34.1 65.6 0.3 0.0 0.0 5,035 Technical subjects 53.7 45.0 0.8 0.4 0.0 2,243 Social subjects 17.2 26.5 35.2 20.2 0.9 3,050 Religious education 11.1 21.2 38.5 28.4 0.8 1,889 Home economics 61.0 38.0 0.5 0.3 0.2 1,169 Creative-aesthetic subjects 30.0 40.6 19.3 9.1 1.0 6,555 Other subjects 26.0 39.6 21.1 12.2 1.0 2,786 Total 26.9 38.0 23.3 11.2 0.5 32,717 Stage 4 English 3.1 10.8 66.6 19.1 0.3 2,780 Modern Languages 34.1 29.2 26.0 10.0 0.7 1,628 Four key points arise from these figures of interest to those concerned about the issue of class sizes in our schools.
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- (i) in years S1 and S2 over 96 per cent. of teaching groups have no more than 30 pupils (the normal maximum in the teachers' scheme of conditions of service is 33 pupils per class);
- (ii) in S3 and S4 almost two thirds of teaching groups have 20 pupils or fewer. In languages, mathematics and social subjects around 80 per cent. of teaching groups have 25 pupils or fewer (the S3-S6 maxima are 30 pupils per class);
- (iii) in S5 almost 80 per cent. of teaching groups have up to 20 pupils and over 80 per cent. in many subjects have up to 15 pupils;
- (iv) in S6 84 per cent. of teaching groups have up to 15 pupils.
Pupil Roll Band (over and up to) 0–15 15–20 20–25 25–30 30 any Total number 10 per cent. Classical subjects 84.0 8.5 5.2 2.4 0.0 212 Mathematical subject 4.1 13.2 64.5 17.9 0.2 2,894 Business subjects 44.2 46.8 5.7 3.0 0.3 1,757 Computing subjects 29.3 67.7 1.9 0.8 0.2 883 Science subjects 35.9 63.5 0.5 0.1 0.0 5,108 Technical subjects 60.3 39.2 0.5 0.0 0.0 2,161 Social subjects 20.0 26.6 35.5 17.0 1.0 3,203 Religious education 10.0 21.2 41.8 26.2 0.9 1,758 Home economics 63.6 34.0 1.3 0.6 0.4 1,386 Creative-aesthetic subjects 31.7 37.1 22.2 8.0 1.0 6,578 Other subjects 25.6 37.6 25.4 10.5 0.9 2,907 Total 29.0 35.8 25.3 9.4 0.5 33,255 Stage 5 English 13.8 25.1 42.3 17.4 1.4 2,370 Modern Languages 82.2 11.0 5.0 1.2 0.5 1,142 Classical subjects 97.8 1.1 0.6 0.6 0.0 179 Mathematical subject 26.5 30.8 30.5 11.4 0.8 2,118 Business subjects 66.3 23.4 7.4 2.5 0.4 2,470 Computing subjects 66.2 26.8 5.7 0.8 0.6 848 Science subjects 60.2 38.2 1.5 0.1 0.0 3,441 Technical subjects 89.0 10.2 0.8 0.0 0.0 1,310 Social subjects 56.4 25.0 13.4 4.3 0.8 2,296 Religious education 28.1 20.5 35.7 12.9 2.8 677 Home economics 83.4 15.3 0.9 0.2 0.1 1,372 Creative-aesthetic subjects 56.9 22.9 11.8 6.6 1.7 4,363 Other subjects 36.6 31.7 18.1 10.4 3.1 1,893 Total 54.1 25.1 14.0 5.8 1.0 24,479 Stage 6 English 80.7 9.6 5.2 4.2 0.3 384 Modern Languages 98.1 0.8 0.8 0.3 0.0 371 Classical Subjects 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 73 Mathematical Subject 88.5 6.2 4.1 0.9 0.3 581 Business Subjects 84.3 9.6 5.4 0.8 0.0 261 Computing Subjects 83.9 16.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 62 Science Subjects 96.3 3.6 0.1 0.0 0.0 807 Technical Subjects 98.2 1.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 55 Social Subjects 92.7 4.5 1.8 1.0 0.0 494 Religious Education 29.8 19.6 30.4 19.0 1.2 168 Home Economics 78.9 20.0 1.1 0.0 0.0 95 Creative/Aesthetic Subjects 84.2 6.6 4.9 2.3 2.1 576 Other Subjects 45.6 21.3 24.3 6.0 2.7 333 Total 84.1 7.6 5.4 2.2 0.6 4,260 Information on which classes are practical is not collected centrally.