Yes, smaller class sizes will improve our schools

Topic of the week: improving educational attainment

EXPERTS argue that reducing class sizes has little effect on raising attainment and does badly in terms of “value for money” (Will smaller class sizes improve Scotland’s schools?, State of the nation, March 26). However, the general secretaries of the EIS and School Leaders Scotland disagree. In my view, most approaches that are important in closing the gap are made easier with smaller class sizes. Giving individual pupils help when they are struggling, listening to their reading, tracking their progress, assessing their work, personalising their learning when necessary, are all easier in smaller classes, where pedagogy, rather than class control, takes centre-stage. Teacher and pupil stress is reduced.

Reducing class sizes will not, by itself, close the gap. But, alongside improvements in pedagogy, it is a vital step that needs taking, initially in areas of disadvantage, then across the board. It does not require new school buildings; having two teachers working together in the same classroom is the equivalent of halving class size.

Let’s set up a longitudinal research project and have it evaluated rigorously by teachers and academics, with input from parents and pupils. Let’s see if the results of the Star project, where the most disadvantaged pupils benefited from reduced class size, can be replicated in Scotland.

I have been involved with an Erasmus project involving six European countries, three of them Nordic. The Norwegian primary school had roughly the same number of pupils as the Scottish primary, but nearly twice the number of teachers. Maybe there is a lesson there. Prof Brian Boyd East Kilbride EVIDENCE shows the quality of the teacher is paramount. To attract and retain the best graduates, money helps, but there must also be a potential career path. Currently, teachers hit the classroom salary ceiling after five years. Middle-level promoted posts were removed to save money and replaced by faculty heads, often responsible for departments in which they are unqualified to teach. A new, promoted post of subject expert would provide a stepping stone for ambitious teachers to higher-level management. Reasonable remuneration, a job with a career path and the freeing-up of head teachers from burdensome bureaucracy could go a long way to reinvigorating Scotland’s schools. David Muir Edinburgh DR Avis Glaze claims smaller class sizes have little effect on outcomes (Better teachers not smaller classes will fix schools, say top experts, News, March 26). I agree that good teaching has the most significant effect on academic success. However, until schools like Eton and Fettes have classes of 30-plus, I refuse to believe class size is unimportant. D Mitchell Edinburgh