§ Mr. SymsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the average pupil: teacher ratio for(a) Key Stage 1, (b) Key Stage 2 and (c) all pupils in maintained primary schools in each year from 1979 to 1999. [74738]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisThe available information is shown in the following table:
Pupil: teacher ratios (PTRs) in maintained primary schools in England. Position in January each year Year PTR 1979 23.1 1980 22.7 1981 22.6 1982 22.5 1983 22.3 1984 22.1 1985 22.2 1986 22.1 1987 21.9 1988 22.0 1989 22.0 1990 22.0 1991 22.2 1992 22.2 1993 22.4 1994 22.7 1995 22.9 1996 23.2 1997 23.4 1998 23.7 An additional 1,500 teachers were provided in primary schools from September 1998 as the first stage of the Government's commitment to reducing infant class sizes. These will be taken into account in statistics for January 1999 (Provisional) to be published shortly.