Select a region
Class sizes will remain low in the two larger 11-18 schools, with Education forecasting a ratio of one teacher for every 13 students and less variation in class size across the secondary system.
Education, Sport & Culture has previously provided assurances that it has no plans to change the existing average class size policy as part of the States’ reforms to secondary education, and it has reiterated that this remains the case.
"The default nominal form size in secondary schools is 24 children for intake capacity calculation purposes," said a spokesman for ESC. "However, in line with current practice this may be increased to up to 26 children at the discretion of the Director of Education following consultation with the relevant headteacher."
"The existing policy is used to calculate staffing allocation, but it is rare that students are in classes of exactly 24: currently, some class sizes are significantly lower and others significantly higher. This can be a result of timetabling restrictions that are common in smaller schools. This variation will decrease in the new model as it is easier to group larger cohorts into the required numbers."
ESC also stated that the pupil-teacher ratio will be levelled out in the new model.
"The existing policy on pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) allocates one teacher for every 15 students in the 11-16 phase, and one teacher for every ten students in the sixth form. Averaging across the 11-18 sector, this gives one teacher for every 13.8 students: significantly lower than the average ratio across England of 1:16.
"Currently, schools operate with much more generous staffing than this, in part because they are less efficient due to the small size of the schools. Currently, PTRs across the four schools range from one teacher for every 11.8 students to one teacher for every 13.8: another example of the inequality in our current system.
Although translating the existing curriculum into the new one school in two colleges model provides staffing efficiencies, Educations is proposing to reinvest some of these savings to improve the quality and range of opportunities that students are offered.
"The proposed model gives a ratio of one teacher for every 12.8 students. Students and teachers will continue to benefit from much more generous staffing than in England, with significantly smaller average class sizes. They will also benefit from the greater flexibility found in larger schools, which will allow additional staff time to be used more effectively than it can be in the current model."
Pictured top: The two sites, Les Beaucamps and St Sampsons, being used as the two colleges in the new system of secondary education.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.