Call For Action On Class Sizes

Wed, April 19, 2006

Source: Ananova

Teachers have called for a Jamie Oliver-style national campaign to cut class sizes in schools.

The National Union of Teachers voted to launch a major advertising drive and a petition aiming to attract one million signatures to protest over the issue.

Delegates gathered for the NUT's annual conference in Torquay, Devon and demanded that classes be limited to a maximum of 26 pupils.

Union members warned that large classes were forcing teachers to rely on old lesson plans because they simply did not have the time to be more creative.

Sasha Elliott, from Camden, called for a campaign with "a similar spirit" to that which the TV chef showed when he brought the issue of school food to the top of the political agenda.

She said: "Old Jamie, if he showed us one thing, it was that where education is concerned, successful, nationwide campaigns that focus on straightforward common-sense truths motivate all sorts of people to activism.

"Reducing class sizes is not a panacea for all the ills in education, but it is certainly a move that will impact positively on almost all aspects of teaching and learning. This motion calls for a vibrant campaign that calls for one single demand, one change: smaller classes."

Delegates backed the motion, which urged other teachers' unions to join the campaign, along with MPs, parents and school governors.

The Government changed the law to limit class sizes to 30 for five to seven year-olds in national curriculum Key Stage 1 of primary school. But the NUT motion condemned the "waste" of Government funding on controversial initiatives such as the city academies programme, arguing that the money would have been better spent on cutting class sizes further.

"Class sizes remain unacceptably high and except for in Key Stage 1 the Labour Government has made no progress on this issue and even in this sector class sizes have risen for the last three years."

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