25% of students in classes of 30 or more

Photo source: Ingimage.

Almost a quarter of all Westmeath’s school children are taught in classes with 30 or more pupils.

According to new figures from the Department of Education released last week, Westmeath has one of the highest proportions (23.5%) of pupils being taught in classes of 30 or more pupils after Kerry (24.7%) and Limerick (23.6%).

In total, 32 of Westmeath’s 73 primary schools have at least one class of 30 or more pupils. The biggest class in the county had 38 pupils, while the smallest class had nine pupils.

More than half of local primary schools have class sizes higher than the national average of 24.3 pupils.

St Etchen’s National School in Kinnegad is the largest in the county with 542 pupils, while the primary school in Finea’s is the smallest with only 24 pupils.

Nationally, the average class size has fallen from 25.4 pupils in 2015/16 to 24.3 in 2018/19.

Class sizes in Ireland contine to be significantly higher than EU average of 20 pupils per class.

Although the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation welcomed the reduction in class sizes, a spokesperson told the Irish Times that they still remained “far too high”. The spokesperson added that they downward trend needs to continue until Ireland reaches the EU average class size.

“With only 11 per cent of Irish children learning in a class of fewer than 20 students – the EU average – it’s clear they are being short changed,” said an INTO spokesman.

“Smaller classes support inclusion and diversity of children and allow for more individual attention,” he added.

The spokesperson added that the falling birth rates of recent years, presented “an ideal opportunity” to further reduce class sizes, “if we retain the number of teachers at the present level”.