§ Mr. Loydenasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the number of teachers required to reduce class sizes to 25 by 1980.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonThere are sufficient teachers at present to reduce all classes to 25 if they were evenly spread. The number of classes with more than 25 pupils, especially in secondary schools, is substantially a matter of deployment, both between schools and within them. In addition, children may be taught in larger than average groups for activities where this is appropriate. Given the existing deployment of teachers, 600,000 would have to be employed in England and Wales in 1980 to ensure that the proportion of classes with over 25 pupils was reduced to 5 per cent. in both primary and secondary schools.