Size isn't everything

The BBC were making a big thing of this earlier this morning.

Government action to prepare schools for a predicted influx of pupils from the private sector is being demanded.

By the Lib Dems for some reason - probably because so many Lib Dem voters are the sort of middle class ponces who way lyrical about the benefits of comprehensive education while sending their little darlings off to some fee paying school.

Funny how they didn't seem so concerned about the problem of finding places for children when our schools were being inundated with the children of Polish immigrants. Leaving that aside, though, I don't believe there is any problem anyway. I doubt that Slough is particularly exceptional (except that it still retains grammar schools and the 11+ system), but there are only around 30 per class in my kids school.

I've never believed that class sizes were all that important. I'm pretty sure that there are schools in China and India turning out highly literate and educated primary school children with class sizes of 50 or more so why we think 30 is the absolute limit is beyond me. I think it stems more from the educationalists need to expand their little empires and their inability to impose discipline rather than any genuine research.

At junior school my class size fluctuated around the 40 mark while I was there and we had the same one teacher - there were no "teaching assistants" - who taught us from age 7 to 11. I don't recall it ever being a problem for her that there were 40 or so pupils in her class.

Mind you, we did all speak the same language so I guess that helped a little.