Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning Fiona Hyslop
Statement on class sizes to the Scottish Parliament
December 5, 2007
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I welcome this opportunity to make a statement to the Chamber on this Government's position on class sizes. In order to improve Scottish education we need to achieve a number of things in relation to teacher professional development, school leadership, parental involvement, the school environment, discipline, the early years and reducing class sizes.
Leadership and Continuing Professional Development for teachers are particularly important, that is why we are committed to publishing a leadership document in the New Year to set out a Scottish perspective and direction on educational leadership.
Teaching style and teacher quality are also important. In part this comes down to the quality of teachers emerging from our training institutions but it is also influenced by the lead and direction teachers receive in their schools. It is also why CPD for teachers will be a key foundation of our policy in driving up achievement and attainment.
It is however an appropriate time to have a statement on class sizes because of a number of key related events in the last month or so.
A) A new environment
1. We now have agreed a Concordat with CoSLA that sets out the terms of a new relationship between the Scottish Government and local government, based on mutual respect and partnership. That is a hugely significant development. As part of that historic deal, local government will deliver year on year progress in reducing class sizes to a maximum of 18 in P1-3. I will say more about that shortly.
2. We have 2007 schools census statistics published on 20 November which show that 37 per cent of S1/S2 pupils were in maths classes of over 20 and that 21 per cent of S1/S2 English pupils were in classes of over 20. We now know that the targets set out in the Partnership Agreement of the last administration were clearly not met by some margin.
3. On 23 October the General Registers of Scotland published positive but challenging new population projections which show increasing birth rates. We are addressing this issue and I will talk about what those numbers mean shortly.
4. I received the final report of the Class Size and Resources Working Group on 12 November and it was subsequently published on 20 November. Its reference point was the last Government's policies.
5. And we are still in the midst of this year's annual teacher workforce planning exercise that will provide a clearer picture of future teacher supply.
6. We have now also seen the local government finance settlement which has an additional £1.3 billion pounds for services and manifesto commitments including a 15 per cent increase in capital for infrastructure which can be used for school improvements.
7. The Progress in international Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) report was published on 28 November and it raises concerns about 9 and 10 year olds slipping in international comparison in literacy.8. Only yesterday the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report was published which shows that Scotland's reading and maths scores have experienced one of the highest drops of all the OECD countries and Scotland has one of the biggest gaps in performance which can be identified as related to poverty and deprivation.
This is the situation which this Government has inherited from the previous Administration.
B) Evidence/research basis
There is evidence to show that intervention to deal with problems early prevents later problems whether it be violence, ill health or children not achieving their full potential. Early intervention will be the hallmark of our Government.
Poverty and deprivation can have an impact on the life chances and educational achievement from the earliest years. There is a convincing body of research evidence that supports smaller class sizes in early years particularly for those from deprived backgrounds. The Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) project and more recently the Class Size and Pupil Ratio (CSPAR) project in England also provide evidence that supports such a policy.
And closer to home, what better example of successful early intervention than West Dunbartonshire Council who recently published the final research report on its Literacy Initiative which is showing impressive results in tackling illiteracy among pupils in its area. That project identified the importance of early intervention in tackling the problems faced by children. We want Councils across Scotland to assess what lessons they can learn from the project
Smaller classes can lead to:
- more sustained interaction between teachers and pupils
- more high order questioning
- more feedback on work
- less time spent on routine supervision
- less time spent exercising classroom control
- less time given to 'housekeeping' by teachers
C) International context
The PIRLS report published last week shows:
- In 2006, 19 countries had a mean score significantly higher than Scotland, compared with 12 in 2001, so our relative position in the international ranking has fallen under the last government
- It showed there are continuing links between deprivation and low educational achievement and the gap between our high and low achievers
- It also illustrated that the gap between low and high achievers in Scotland is the third widest of countries within the OECD
The report also shows the situation in Scotland in terms of literacy achievement of 9 and 10 year olds is worse than it was in 2001.
The PISA results published [yesterday] show a similar picture. In 2003 only three countries had significantly higher mean scores than Scotland for each of maths, reading and science. By 2006, there are four countries outscoring Scotland in science, five in reading and eight in maths.
We are determined to reverse that trend.
D) Early Years
If we are to tackle Scotland's challenges as identified in the international PISA survey and climb back up the international tables we need to tackle poverty at its roots and the impact it can have on families. Our Early Years Strategy can do that and we need to give more time and attention and access to a nursery teacher for our poorest children and drive down class sizes in the early years when literacy and numeracy are embedded. Scotland needs firm foundations for learning and this Government will provide them.
We believe that the greatest impact can be made by improving early year's education rather than trying to take remedial action later in a child's schooling by which time in many cases it is too late. Our class size policy needs to be seen in the context of our whole early year strategy.
We know that the standard of pre-school education in Scotland is generally good and that the highest standard of pre-school education tends to be in settings which employ teachers. Overall the presence of a nursery teacher in a nursery class tends to bring quality of provision. That is why this Government wants all children in pre-school education to have access to a qualified teacher. And the recent HMIE report published on 12 November provides evidence to support that policy. It found that, overall, the quality of children's experiences was of a higher standard in nursery schools and nursery classes where, traditionally, teachers were employed.
The Early Year's strategy will look at the broad range of service provision for young children and how these work to support families.
We have already made the most significant enhancement to pre-school education since 2002. The entitlement to pre-school education was increased to 475 hours from the start of this academic year. And in the Budget we announced that the entitlement will increase further to 570 hours from August 2010. With our commitment of a 50 per cent increase in the level of entitlement being delivered in 2011.
The chamber will also be pleased to note that concordat agreed with COSLA makes specific reference to ensuring that there is access to a teacher for every pre-school child as soon as possible.
These are important steps forward for early years provision and together provide a welcome boost for our constituents with young families.
What does the concordat mean for class sizes?
The Concordat states that the Scottish Government and local government will each do what is required to ensure delivery of key government policies including, as quickly as is possible, reducing class sizes in P1 to P3 to a maximum of 18.
There are 3 key areas that we should examine - pupils, teachers and classrooms.
Pupils
Total pupil numbers are expected to drop from 703,000 in 2006 to 666,000 in 2011 and then rise again to 680,000 in 2020. These projections are 10,000 pupils by 2011 and 60,000 by 2020 higher than the previous projections used in last year's workforce planning exercise. Most of this change is due to revised population projections following the GROS publication of 23 October, allowing for increased birth rates and inward migration. As a result of the revised population projections an additional 450 primary teachers are required by 2011 and 2,100 by 2020 simply to meet those demographic demands.
Teachers
We are not underestimating the scale of the challenge - only 11 per cent of pupils are in classes currently at or below 18 in P1 - P3.
We firmly believe that smaller class sizes for all in these crucial early years is the right policy and the best approach and that is why we are planning to train thousands more teachers than the previous administration. We expect more than 20,000 to have entered training by 2011. This is a huge investment if you consider the total number of teachers is currently around 53,000.
For the period 2008-09 to 2010-11, the level of efficiency savings which all parts of the public sector will be expected to meet has been set at 2 per cent per annum. Despite the tightest UK spending settlement since devolution we will provide sufficient resources to allow local government to broadly maintain teacher numbers [at record level] as pupil numbers fall, as part of a package that has delivered an extra £1.3 billion for local government by 2010-11. .
A reduction in ring fenced funding streams from £2.7bn in 07-08 to under £0.9bn by 10-11. The ability to retain all efficiency savings on 07/08 figures is worth £213m for each year - that is £639m in total. All this will provide local government with the resources and flexibility that will allow them to make real progress in bringing down class sizes in P1 - 3.
The Government will be funding training for thousands more teachers. However, I will not compromise on teacher quality in training so many new teachers. We also need to take account of the pressures on the system in terms of Higher Education Institutions capacity and, just as importantly, the capacity of the school system to provide quality student placements.
There also has to be a degree of consistency. I am aware that constantly chopping and changing class configurations can compromise the benefits from class size reductions so a degree of common sense needs to be used in class formations.
Classrooms
This Government has already invested £40m for capital infrastructure for Schools to support the demands of class size reductions in future years.
Contrast this to the last government who for P1 and S1/S2 class size reductions which took 3 years, provide £60m compared to our £40m in 100 days.
And, in the Scottish Budget there is almost £3 billion over the 3 year period from next April to secure investment in schools and other local government infrastructure, including an extra £115 million in 2008-09 which again can be invested in schools. The local government capital budget represents an average increase of 15 per cent over the 3 years of the settlement compared to 2007-08 figures.
Conclusion
There is widespread support for a policy of lower class sizes in the early years of Primary.
Most of the opposition parties planned to cut class sizes too. In its Manifesto, Scottish Labour said it would: "reduce class sizes below the OECD average." The OECD average is 21.4
Given their own commitments during the election campaign. I say to the Liberal Democrat members, on smaller class sizes we could and should be working together. Their manifesto said that they would deliver 1,000 more teachers to cut class sizes and cut class sizes in P1 to P3 to a maximum of 25.
We know parents and teachers want cuts in class sizes too. 80,000 Scots have recently signed one of the largest petitions ever to be submitted to this parliament - and on what subject - urging that class sizes be cut.
So we want to see real year on year progress in reducing class sizes in P 1-3 and we will work with local government to deliver that.
Local Government is committed to work with us to deliver it. But I believe we are rightly ambitious: ambitious for our young people, their parents and Scottish teachers. We are ambitious for Scotland.
This Parliament should not divide to make party political points on our agenda for the future educational improvement of our children. After all so many of us - indeed a majority of MSPs in this chamber - were elected on a platform of class size reductions. Unity to support efforts to reduce class sizes would give the children of Scotland the chance they deserve.
There are too many children in Scotland that need a better chance to succeed in the early years. This Government will do everything we can to help them.