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Updated: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 | Printer Friendly Version | |

CLASS SIZE REGULATION A “STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION”, SAYS EIS

The EIS today welcomed the announcement by Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, of the intention to regulate a class size maximum of 25 for P1 classes from August 2010 and to initiate a review on all class size arrangements.

Commenting, EIS General Secretary Ronnie Smith said: “While the decision to set P1 classes to a maximum of 25 is less than our aspiration – and less than the SNP manifesto commitment – the EIS has been seeking a more enforceable mechanism to limit class sizes. This has now been accepted by the Scottish Government. The statutory limit of 25 is clearly a step in the right direction and provides a platform for enabling all class size maxima in law. We need to build on this quickly in the years ahead.”

Mr Smith added, “The EIS has drawn attention in the past to the current ‘patchwork quilt' of class size arrangements and the means of promulgating such arrangements. A review offers an opportunity to provide a coherent approach to class size maxima and the EIS will play its part in this review. However, the review will only succeed if it addresses issues of coherence. It cannot afford to be sidetracked into a debate on the merits of reducing class sizes. The need to reduce class sizes was accepted by the major political parties in the run up to the last elections to the Scottish Parliament.”