Written question asked by John Stanley (Conservative), in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 21 March 1997. It was answered by Robin Squire (Conservative) on Friday, 21 March 1997 on behalf of the Department for Education and Employment.

Dept for Education and Employment

Question: What was the proportion of children in classes of more than 31 in 1979; and what is the proportion currently for (a) all schools, (b) primary schools and (c) secondary schools. - Inc table relating to primary and secondary schools and fact that information for nursery, special and independent schools is not collected centrally.

Answer: Sir John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the proportion of children in classes of more than 31 in 1979; and what is the proportion currently for (a) all schools, (b) primary schools and (c) secondary schools. [21504] Mr. Robin Squire: The available information is shown in the following table. Percentage of pupils{1} in one teacher classes of 31 or more pupils in maintained primary and secondary schools in England Position in January each year _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1979 1996 Primary schools 35.3 31.8 Secondary schools 16.0 8.5 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Pupils in one teacher classes of size 31 or more pupils expressed as a percentage of all pupils in one teacher classes. Information for nursery, special and independent schools is not collected centrally.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 21504; 292 c946W
Session: 1996-97
Subjects: Class sizes Private education Pre-school education Primary education Special educational needs Secondary education
Contains statistics: Yes