Yesterday's announcement that all primary schools will from September next have a "maximum class average" of 30 pupils is to be welcomed. The Irish National Teachers' Organisation has argued vociferously for a reduction in the Department of Education's present maximum class-size "guideline" of 35. Last year saw a series of strikes by primary teachers aimed at addressing the underfunding and understaffing in their schools.
Currently, there are an estimated 52,000 primary school pupils in classes of over 35. The new initiative is weighted towards schools which have the largest average class size, so a dramatic improvement should soon be visible in these schools as the new teaching posts are promised for the start of the next school year. It is heartening to see more than £9 million per annum being spent to redress some of the educational inequalities which have long been a feature of the education system. Under this initiative about 150 new teaching posts will be created.
This is only one of a series of initiatives recently put in place by the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Micheal Martin. Last December he announced details of a £57 million plan to tackle educational disadvantage. This included the extension of the remedial teacher service to all primary schools, the extension of the home/school liaison service to all disadvantaged schools and an increase in direct funding for primary schools. In all the Minister is promising nearly 600 new or redeployed teaching posts in primary schools next September.
It is to be hoped that these developments will go some way towards addressing what is perhaps the most glaring failure of the educational system - the large number of pupils who leave school functionally illiterate. The National Adult Literacy Agency estimates that some 500,000 adults have severe difficulties in reading and writing. The Green Paper, Adult Education in an Era of Lifelong Learning, published last November, identifies the tackling of low literacy and numeracy levels as "Ireland's primary adult education priority". It proposes the implementation of a national literacy programme.
Even while some of these adults are being helped to read and write - and a White Paper is promised by the end of the year - the supply is continuously being replenished by school-leavers without these basic skills. A recent OECD study found 17 per cent of Irish people in the 16-25 age bracket did not have basic literacy skills. The £57 million two-year funding initiative announced in December includes £3.2 million for adult literacy and £1.5 million for a stay-in-school programme.
The improvements in remedial provision combined with the reduction in class size, should improve literacy rates. But Mr Martin is being given no time to rest on his laurels. While Senator Joe O'Toole, general secretary of the INTO, has welcomed "this hugely significant first step" he has already outlined a series of further demands: that class size in disadvantaged schools and all mixed class groups should be reduced to below 25; and that infant classes should be reduced to under 20.