Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Cuts affecting education

The new academic year has started with problems already in Orihuela.

A lot of children live too far away from their school to walk and so get bussed each day. Children who live more than 3km by direct line are entitled to a place on the bus. The problem is that there are not enough buses from some of the areas leaving 300 students without a form of transport.

 Education cuts have also reduced the number of teachers by 10% - a total of 35 teachers. The ESO ratio has gone from 30 to 35 students per class and in high schools from 35 to 40. The lack of teachers will affect SEN programs, remedial education and attention to diversity.

 I imagine the cuts will also have posed huge problems for the schools creating timetables not to mention the issue of fitting extra desks and chairs into classrooms.

 When Pam started teaching at Gayton on the Wirral she had over 40 children in her primary school class. Hearing them all read each day was a daunting task as was marking all their books.

 At Anfield, I started with classes of 30+ for art in the lower school. With time though, class sizes were reduced especially for exam classes.

Having 35 to 40 pupils in a class very much restricts the methods that you can use to teach and the amount of attention you can give to individual children.

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