Britain's primary schools

Education: Britain's primary school class sizes among biggest in developed world

• Jessica Shepherd
• The Guardian

• Wednesday September 10 2008
• Article history

Britain's primary schools have bigger class sizes than almost every other developed country, despite millions of pounds being spent on keeping pupil numbers down.

UK state primaries have 24.5 pupils a class - the fourth largest of the 30 western countries which make up the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Only Japan, Korea and Turkey have more crowded classrooms in their primary schools, the OECD found in its annual report comparing education across the world. OECD countries have on average 21.5 pupils a class, the report, Education at a Glance 2008, said.

The gap between private and state school class sizes is higher in the UK than in any other country with on average 13 more pupils in a state primary class than in a private one. In other countries private and state schools have similar class sizes.

The UK fares better for pupils in their first few years of secondary school when the average class has 22.4 pupils - below the OECD average of 24 pupils a class.

Cutting class sizes was a key election pledge of the Labour government in 1997. The Department for Children, Schools and Families said last night that "millions" had gone into improving pupil-adult ratios.

Since 1997 the number of primary and secondary teachers had risen by 40,000 to 441,200 and the number of teaching assistants had increased by 116,300 to 176,900, the spokesman said.

Other countries are overtaking the UK in the proportion of young people graduating from university, the study found. In 2000 37% of young people in the UK graduated - the fourth highest country and well above the then OECD average of 28%. But now the UK is struggling to keep pace with other countries and has dropped to 12th place. The UK has climbed to 39%, but the OECD average is 37%.

The UK also has a higher proportion of school-leavers aged between 15 and 19 than most OECD countries.

The study found the UK invested more in pre-primary schooling - $6,420 (£3,655) - than every other OECD country apart from Austria, Iceland and the US.

Andreas Schleicher, the chief author of the report and an OECD analyst, said: "In terms of school education the OECD indicators put the UK in a favourable light at least in terms of policies, the application of resources and access. But when it comes to translating those policies into improved learning there is quite a gap between the UK and the most successful education systems, such as those in the US, the Netherlands and Japan."

Andrew Adonis, the schools minister, said the data confirmed the government needed to do more to increase the numbers staying on in education: "That is why, alongside increased investment in skills and training, we are legislating to ensure everyone has to stay in education or training until they are 18," he added.

Comments

[BiologyTopics]

Great blog! The information you provide is quiet helpful, why I was not able to find it earlier. Anyways I’ve subscribed to your feeds, keep the good work up.