A review of international research published last week suggests that pupils made more progress when class sizes were cut, rather than when their teacher had the support of a full-time classroom assistant.
The report, compiled by the Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE) on behalf of the Scottish Executive Education Department, concludes that there is sufficient evidence, mainly from American studies, to show that reductions in class size are associated with improvements in pupils'
achievements. Smaller class sizes were particularly beneficial in the early stages of a child's schooling, from ages five to eight, and there were major benefits where class sizes were reduced to below 20 pupils with one teacher, although this was seen as prohibitively expensive.
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