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Dept for Education and Employment

Answer

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what was the average size of sixth form classes taught by one teacher in maintained secondary schools in each of the last five years; [119409] (2) how many pupils were taught at Key Stage 4 in classes with 30 or more pupils in maintained secondary schools in each of the last five years; [119412] (3) how many sixth form classes taught by one teacher in maintained secondary schools had (a) 25 or more and (b) 30 or more pupils in each of the last five years. [119418] Ms Estelle Morris: The information requested is shown in the tables. Provisional national estimates of class sizes in maintained secondary schools, which were published on 12 April, found reductions between January 1999 and 2000 in the numbers of pupils in classes of 35 or more taught by one teacher. Overall, only 0.2 per cent. of pupils in maintained secondary schools in England were in classes of over 35 pupils. For 14 and 15-year-old pupils, only 0.1 per cent. of pupils are in classes of over 35, representing a fall of nearly one half between January 1999 and 2000. Similarly, within the same time period, the number of pupils aged 16 or more in classes over 35 also fell to only 775 pupils, a reduction in the number of pupils of about one third. These figures were published in a Statistical First Release, "Class sizes in maintained schools in England: January 2000 (15/2000)". Number of classes in maintained secondary schools for pupils aged 16{1} and over taught by one teacher, by size of class in England: 1996-2000 Position as at January each year _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Year Number of classes with 25 or more pupils Number of classes with 30 or more pupils 2000{2} 287 86 1999 238 73 1998 260 86 1997 251 72 1996 262 80 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Ages as 31 August (start of the academic year) {2} Provisional Average size of classes for pupils aged 16 or more{1} taught by one teacher in maintained secondary schools in England: 1996-2000 Position as at January _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Year 2000{2} 10.7 1999 10.5 1998 10.7 1997 10.8 1996 10.6 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Ages as at 31 August (start of the academic year) {2} Provisional Number of pupils in classes of 30 or more for pupils aged 14 and 15{1} taught by one teacher in maintained secondary schools in England: 1996-2000 Position as at January each year _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Year 2000{2} 133,717 1999 125,077 1998 116,325 1997 105,038 1996 106,350 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Ages as at 31 August (start of the academic year) {2} Provisional

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

348 c352-3W; 119409;119412;119418

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Class sizes Secondary education Sixth form education

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk