§ Mr. Beithasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what account was taken of social class factors in the research on which Her Majesty's inspectors of education base their assumption that mixed age classes of more than 25 pupils produce generally lower levels of achievement.
§ Mr. DunnHer Majesty's Inspectorate's conclusion was based on the assessments they made during their national survey of primary education in England, the report on which was published in 1978. As part of the survey, a number of primary school pupils took tests of reading and mathematics performance prepared by the National Foundation for Educational Research. While these tests took no account of social background, the sample of pupils involved was a random one designed carefully to be properly representative of all primary schools in England. Her Majesty's Inspectors undertook formal inspections of 542 schools in the course of the survey: its assessment of the extent to which pupils' work matched their abilities took account of schools' social composition.