To think we will have class sizes of over 40 children...

[Chippednailvarnish]

In the next five years?

And she is right. Children need a well rounded education. They can't do any better just by doing more and more, there is a limit.

I predict an enormous increase in job applications to independent school posts. Teaching and dealing with the parents of forty pupils .....eeek

No she's not right. I work for a company which deals with adults who are illiterate and not numerate. The overwhelming majority were educated under Labour and you would be astounded by the numbers involved.

It's all very nice to sit around in a circle and talk about what colour you think your feelings are. But it doesn't pay the bills when you leave school.

Ds born in '89 spent almost all of his junior school years (96 to 00) in classes with around 40 children with 1 teacher and no TA (I remember he was in a class of 43 for a while) He thrived because he was able I'm not sure some of the less able did though

I remember (90s) my classes were close to 40, my ds primary school now Fs2 all classes in the are pretty much are 24, does it change when there older?

*the area

Will this anti Conservative hell never cease!

We are all going to hell in a handbasket, I tell you.

dd1's class is 37 - PAN of 35, plus two appeals.
and I chose this school over several others. class size is not the sole factor of a good school.

Ah, the mythical teacher friend...

Well, I am a teacher of many years standing who has taught under Tories and Labour and Coalition. Weirdly, I have never met a single teacher ever who did not believe the three r's were vital. I have met lots who wish we had enough time to also bring creativity and joy into class. I am one of them. I also think the 40 kids of yesteryear in the 70's when there were no national tests in primary and a later starting age, plus a much less pressured environment with far less SEN and kids in need in class is a completely erroneous comparison.

Anyone who thinks forty kids in one class is a brilliant cost cutting idea can teach mine, as I shall be gone.

Aermingers it does help to learn to express disappointment or irritation in some other way than telling your boss or clients to fuck off though, doesn't it?

Just as an example.

insanityscatching 89 baby here too, I remember exactly that , you may have a had a TA for deaf children but that's about it, my ds has 1 teacher and like 4 TAs it's so alien to me.

I had class sizes of 30/32 when I was at school.

Then again my teacher didn't have 25 tonnes of, mostly pointless, paperwork to complete and the specialist school hadn't been bulldozed for housing and all the kids there (who thrived in an environment with much smaller classes which let the teachers teach them in the way that benefitted them best) chucked into mainstream with a couple of over-worked TA's between them.

There are some classes now where teachers are basically firefighting the whole time. It's no surprise standards are slipping.

There's a huge demographic problem with schools over the coming years, and it's been on the political agenda for some years.

The coalition has put more money into creating school places. No sign (that that I've spotted) that was a particularly LD thing, so unless they've announced an end to it (or discussed/consulted about the possibility of withdrawing the extra), then I'd expect it to continue.

I've not seen any scaremongering about it as a potential cut, either.

I agree but it's nothing to do with immigration

Well, where do you think they are all going, then? Schools in the east of England are simply overrun with incomers.

There is huge pressure on school places where I live and hardly any immigrants.

Class sizes were around 30 or so when I was at primary iirr. Pretty much the same as here now.

I work in infants - it is rare to ever have more than 30 in a class. Have had the odd time it has crept to 31 due to an appeal/late exceptional circumstances child, but rarely for more than a year tbh.

However, unlike when I was at school we have a teacher and TA in the classroom much of the time, in addition to any 1:1 statement support.

LaLyra
You are absolutely right
When I first began teaching; the classes were big but behaviour was better , parents appreciative and needs far less.
There wasn't the paperwork or pussyfooting political correctness nonsense . You just taught , alone without a TA and it was a lovely job.

There were 41 and 42 pupils in the last two years of my primary school, over a third of who passed the 11+. I don't see that large classes necessarily = problem.

Citing Eton as a reason why it is is senseless. Eton pupils benefit from far, far more than just small classes.

when i was a kid in the 1980s there were 40 in my primary school class.

30 years ago there was not the pressure there is today on marking and correcting everything then correcting corrections. All using different coloured pens and special boxes and assessment for every child every 3 weeks and reports every half term and intervention with all of the children who are under performing. And blame on the teacher if a child does not get there target.
And think of the photocopying!
And I could go on!
It's not simply a matter of looking after 40 children in a class, it's everything else that goes with it.

Also. Where are they all going to sit.

Also just because you went to school once, doesn't make you an expert on how easy it is to teach 30 plus kids

What - well said.

Yeah, but if you can't read or write you won't have a boss in the first place. Plus it's not a schools job to teach manners, it's the parents.

Whatto, I disagree. There was a heck of a lot more marking going on when I was at school in comparison to when my children were in primary.

If there's a problem with the curriculum and current teaching methods (and I am convinced there is) that needs to be dealt with. It's crap. We need to face that and change it rather than blaming class sizes and calling for a reduction.

Why? What evidence is there for this?

And if there will be 40 per class the current rules state that in ks1 anyway there needs to be two class teachers?

Whetherornot, you see my post up there about 40 plus children in my primary yet over a third passing the 11+ (and others winning scholarships to selective independents)?

Almost half that class were first generation immigrants.