Will smaller class sizes improve Scotland’s schools?
Each week the Sunday Herald puts the most contentious issues of the day under the magnifying glass to find out what’s true, what’s false, and what needs to be done. Today, Political Editor Andrew Whitaker explores whether smaller class sizes will help imp
ALEX Salmond’s dramatic election victory in 2007 by the narrowest of margins saw the SNP seize power on the back of a programme to revive Scotland’s public services, including a flagship promise to cut class sizes.
The party’s manifesto – titled SNP It’s Time – included a commitment to “reduce class sizes in Primary 1, 2 and 3 to 18 pupils or less to give children more time with their teacher at this vital stage of their development”.
Salmond’s manifesto talked of how “it’s time for more opportunities for young Scots with smaller class sizes” in an election in which the SNP beat Labour nationally by just one seat to become the largest party at Holyrood. However, that policy is widely thought to have fallen victim to the near decade of austerity following the financial collapse of 2007-08.
Some critics believe the original pledge is no longer even an aspiration of government, although Education Secretary John Swinney says he remains committed to smaller classes.
In late 2010, the SNP did introduce legislation to limit sizes for Primary 1 pupils to a maximum of 25 unless there were exceptional circumstances.
The move was attacked as backing away from the original pledge to reduce the class size to 18 – the level teaching unions claim is needed to deliver noticeable improvements in grades and standards.
But are smaller class sizes the magic bullet so many teachers and parents believe them to be? Or is there a better way of using the resources that delivering such a policy requires at a time when cuts continue to bite?
The leader of Scotland’s headteachers has mixed views on the subject but believes the original plan to significantly cut numbers was killed off by austerity before there was a chance to assess whether or not it would improve outcomes.
Jim Thewliss, general secretary of School Leaders Scotland, a former headteacher at Harris Academy in Dundee, is in no doubt smaller class sizes make it easier for teachers to manage lessons, but is less sure it would lead to improved standards and exam results.
He says: “The received wisdom is that it doesn’t have a great deal of impact but talk to any teacher and they’ll tell you that young people are going to do better when the teachers spend more time with them. Smaller class sizes mean you have more time to deal with special issues.
“It’s worthy of more research and a longitudinal study might be useful about the learning experience of young people.”
However, one of Scotland’s leading educationalists believes there is scant evidence that smaller classes make any difference and warns the cost of delivering the policy could spiral out of control.
“Reducing class sizes is the most expensive way of achieving nothing,” says Keir Bloomer, a key architect of the Scottish Government’s flagship education policy the Curriculum for Excellence.
“It’s probably the most popular remedy in most people’s minds, and parents and teachers all think it’s a great idea,” he added.
Bloomer, who also chairs the Commission on School Reform, refers to the Star (Student-Teacher Achievement Ratio) project in Tennessee in the 1980s, when work was carried out to determine the effects of reduced class sizes on short and long-term pupil performance in the early years of school. It certainly appeared to prove the case that reduced class sizes work as the poorest districts involved improved their end-of-year standing in maths and reading from below average to above average.
However, Bloomer cautions that the Star project was an isolated example. He points to California’s class-size reduction programme, which aimed to cap classes at 20 students, but was found to have inconclusive results after it was rolled out across the US state in the late 1990s.
“There is not much evidence in favour of it. There’s not a lot going for it,” he says of the experiment. The country’s richest state was unable to sustain the cost or prove the programme was a success. “It’s a very expensive way of doing it and the reduction in class sizes hasn’t demonstrated that big a benefit,” he says. Reviewing the various attempts over the years, Bloomer adds: “A tremendous amount of resources have gone into it, but apart from the one isolated example of the Star project the research suggests it’s had poor results. Many research findings have suggested there is no perceptible improvement.”
Campaigners who disagree with Bloomer say it is common sense that if class numbers are kept down teachers will have more time to devote to individual children and offer additional support to struggling pupils.
But Bloomer rebuts these claims, arguing it would not alter the way teachers conduct lessons or improve the quality of the curriculum. He argues that efforts should instead focus on improving teaching standards and leadership in schools.
“There are a number of different approaches, but all or most boil down to the point that the quality of teaching will not improve just by increasing the numbers in the teaching profession,” he says. “The quality of teaching is probably the most
important factor. There’s also the quality of the curriculum and the quality of the school leadership.
“Why would anyone think reducing classes sizes would do all this? Does the teacher spend more time with each individual child?”
Bloomer then answers his own question: “They will teach exactly as they do at the moment, so it’s unlikely to change the outcome.”
He adds: “The other extremely important piece of information is that to reduce class sizes you need more teachers. There’s not a huge resource of great teachers who are not employed.”
However, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA), Seamus Searson, argues smaller class sizes are the main selling point for parents who pay for private school places.
“They see the value of it and that’s why they pay for it,” he says, adding that ministers should ensure state schools have similar class sizes to those in the private sector.
“Why can’t we aspire to that in state schools, so that we have that for all children and close the attainment gap?” he asks. “When you get class sizes of over 25 it becomes less manageable. If there were classes of four or five, that’s too small.
“But I’d say 18 to 20 is the optimum size and would allow for proper interaction between children and teachers. You need that for real engagement in closing the attainment gap. If there are 30 children in a class and the lesson is for an hour, then it’s two minutes each for each child.”
There are also contrasting views on the issue from the Tory and Labour opposition party education spokespeople at Holyrood, both of whom are former teachers.
Tory shadow education secretary Liz Smith points out that a “large class with an outstanding teacher is perfectly able to deliver excellent results”, in a call to focus on improving the quality of teaching.
“While smaller class sizes may provide some advantages, there is no compelling evidence telling us they necessarily go hand in hand with improving outcomes,” she maintains.
Labour’s education spokesperson Iain Gray suggests larger class sizes are partly to blame for Scotland’s disappointing results in the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessments (Pisa).
Gray says: “The point of smaller class sizes is to give children more time with teaching staff, but under the SNP we have seen 4,000 fewer teachers and 1,000 fewer support staff, so young people are getting even less support than they should. Class sizes in Scotland are now among the highest in the developed world and the 2015 Pisa results show Scotland is declining in reading, mathematics and in science.”
Scotland’s largest teaching union the EIS has consistently campaigned for smaller class sizes.
General secretary Larry Flanagan believes Scotland should seek to emulate the example of Finland, which has average classes of about 20.
Flanagan says: “The SNP’s first election came on the back of a promise to reduce class sizes. That’s not happened. If you go from 33 to 30 it would not make much difference, but if you go from 30 to 20 it’s a significant difference.”
He also believes a move by former Labour education minister Hugh Henry over a decade ago to give councils additional funds for reductions to 20 in S1 and S2 years led to improved performances among deprived children.
“It’s no coincidence that happened when there were smaller class sizes,” Flanagan says.
Flanagan, who was a principal teacher in Glasgow at the time, recalls that the “money disappeared on the back of austerity”, which meant the end of the extra funding.
However, Henry believes there has been an “artificial debate” on class sizes and that parties and unions have got too “hung up” on it.
Henry, who has now stepped down as an MSP, said: “We need to be careful on the debate about class sizes. I’m disappointed we got hung up on it. Labour to some extent got hung up on it.”
The former teacher says smaller class sizes could work if they were targeted at pupils from the most deprived areas.
He says: “There were circumstances where smaller class sizes have been effective. But what’s far more important is the quality and resources available – not just equipment, but also classroom assistants.”
Education Secretary Swinney responds that the Scottish Government has devoted resources to prevent school class sizes from rising.
He says: “We are committed to smaller class sizes, which can give Scotland’s young people better life chances by increasing their attainment and raising and realising their ambition.
“In 2010, we introduced legislation to reduce the maximum class size in P1 to its lowest ever level of 25. We committed £88 million to local authorities to maintain pupil-teacher ratios next year at 2016-17 levels and to secure places for all probationers who want them.
“Our investment in teacher numbers will allow local authorities to take flexible decisions about how best to meet the needs of their schools. Had we not taken this action to maintain teacher numbers, the number of teachers in our schools could have fallen further, resulting in larger classes with much higher pupil teacher ratios.”