INTRODUCTION

1 This Bulletin brings together information about pupil:teacher ratios, average class sizes and the size of classes as taught in schools in England. While the key figures have already been published elsewhere, the Bulletin contains more extensive analyses.

2 The Annual Schools Census collects information about pupils on roll and teachers who are employed at schools as at January each year. Information of this type has been collected for a long time: the earliest pupil:teacher ratios reported in Section 1 of this Bulletin are for 1947 in maintained primary and secondary schools.

3 In addition, the sizes of classes being taught at a specific time on the day of the Census is collected from maintained primary and secondary schools, giving a snapshot of classes in all of these schools in January. From this, average class size and the percentage of children in classes of different sizes can be derived. For primary schools there is also information about the Key Stage, the activity of the class and the number of teaching assistants present at the time of the Census. The figures reported in Sections 2 and 3 of this Bulletin are derived from the classes as taught section of the Annual Schools Census.

4 Information from the additional collection of information about the size of infant classes in maintained primary schools in England in September is reported in Section 4 for 1998, 1999 and 2000. Class sizes as measured in September are not directly comparable with those in January, as any differences in the figures will reflect seasonal effects such as pupils entering school in January.

5 The Government is committed to raising the standard of education in all our schools. Reducing the size of infant classes is one of a range of measures put in place to achieve this. The September Class Size Count that is analysed in Section 4 of this Bulletin was begun specifically to monitor the Government's pledge to reduce the size of infant classes for children aged 5, 6 and 7 to 30 or below.

6 The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 will ensure that smaller infant classes will be in place by September 2001 at the latest. This legislation requires local education authorities to draw up plans in consultation with schools, parents and Diocesan representatives showing how the size of infant classes will be reduced. A total of £620 million has been made available to reduce the size of infant classes. This is sufficient to employ around 6,000 additional teachers and to build some 2,000 new infant classrooms.

Measures of Class Size

7 The pupil:teacher ratio is calculated by taking the full-time equivalent of all the pupils (where a part-time pupil counts as one half) and dividing it by the full-time equivalent of the number of teachers employed (calculated by looking at the number of hours worked by teachers). While the number of teachers employed relative to the number of pupils enrolled will have an affect on class sizes, not all teachers will necessarily be in the class room at any one time.

8 The average class size is calculated by dividing the number of pupils in classes being taught at the time of the Census by the number of classes.

9 The percentage of pupils in classes of a particular size is calculated by looking at the proportion of all children who were in classes of that size in classes as taught at the time of the Census.

10 The child:adult ratio is calculated by dividing the number of children in classes as taught at the time of the Census by the number of adults (teachers and teaching assistants employed by the school). Child:adult ratio is only available for those classes where the number of teaching assistants is collected in the classes as taught section of the Annual Schools Census.

Further Information

11 Information about class sizes and pupil:teacher ratios, including Local Education Authority level statistics, can be found in Statistical First Releases that are available on the website www.dfee.gov.uk/statistics. The most recent Statistical First Releases are 14/2000 'Pupil:Teacher Ratios in Maintained Schools in England: January 2000 (Provisional)'', 15/2000 'Class sizes in Maintained Schools in England: January 2000 (Provisional)' and 45/2000 'Infant Class Sizes in England: September 2000'. Information about class sizes and pupil:teacher ratios is also included in the Volume 'Statistics of Education: Schools in England: January 2000' which was published in September 2000.