By Denise McNamara

There are over 5,000 primary school children being taught in classes of 30 or more in Galway, with a shocking 321 in the county having to endure class sizes of up to 39.

The latest figures released by the Department of Education show that 5,103 primary school children in Galway are being taught in classes of 30 pupils – 3,471 of them outside the city.

In addition, 391 are in classes between 35 and 39 children, of which 321 are in the country.

That figure is down on last year when 385 pupils were in such large classes.

The figures show eight county schools have the unenviable distinction of having these massive classes. Scoil Naisiunta an Bhan Mhoir or Bawnmore school in Claregalway is in the worst situation, with 71 children in classes with up to 39.

Scoil Naisiunta Bhride in Turloughmore has 38 children in this same category. National schools in Clarinbridge and Moylough have 36 pupils in this bracket, while Athenry, Rosscahill, Clifden and Claren, outside Tuam, all have 35.

School principal of Lough Cutra national school in Gort, Joe Killeen - the district representative for the INTO (Irish National Teachers’ Organisation) - said the department’s guidelines for getting approval for more teachers appointed were too inflexible and needed to be changed to ensure children were in manageable classes.

“If you have 38 children in a particular class you may not qualify for an extra teacher because the department divides out the number of pupils in the school by the number of teachers and don’t look at the size of individual classes,” explained Mr Killeen.

“They also take the numbers from the year before so you have to go through the whole school year with increased numbers before you might qualify for an extra teacher. What the department has is one size fits all, which doesn’t work for individual schools.”

In his own school last year, they had two classes with 29 students. That has been reduced this year to 18 after they qualified for more teachers.

“That number is ideal because all the teachers get a chance to give each pupil a fair crack of the whip. The whole curriculum is child-centred so in order to progress with that there has to be an opportunity to hear from every child. That can only happen when you have manageable numbers,” Mr Killeen stated.

“When numbers are that high, the effectiveness of teaching is severely diminished. The pupil, teacher ratio is just too high.”
Fine Gael Seanad spokesperson on education, Senator Fidelma Healy Eames, said these latest figures show the devastating impact the Budget cuts are having on our children.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.