Classes said to be too big

Press, 12 July 1984, Page 3

Classes said to be too big

Class sizes were too large, said the deputy leader of the Labour Party, Mr Palmer, in a speech at Wanganui last evening. Mr Palmer said that figures from the Education Department on class sizes in primary and intermediate schools at September 30

last year indicated the scale of the problem that a Labour Government would have to tackle. “Ten classes had 40 or more pupils, 1468 had 35 or more, and 7597 had 30 or more,” he said. “Most of the smaller classes are exceptional

cases, such as in small rural schools. The most common class size is 30 to 34 pupils. Even with distortion caused by special cases, 43 per cent of the classes have 30 or more pupils.”

He said that New Zealand’s class sizes were the largest in the developed world, and that parents knew their children were not getting a fair deal in overcrowded classes. “Parents know that small classes produce better results, because the teacher has more control and there is more understanding and close communication with individual pupils.

“The new Labour Government will reduce class sizes,” he said.

Early childhood education between nought and eight years of age was Labour’s priority. “The benefits from smaller classes in the junior school would stretch throughout a child’s school life,” he said. “Labour will put teachers into classrooms.”

Under National, the total number of primary teachers (State and private), had fallen from 21,187 at the end of 1975 to 18,951 at the end of 1983, Mr Palmer said.

That reduction represented a short-sighted and ■damaging policy, whereas a Labour Government would use falling rolls to improve staffing.