Class size policy in the context of workforce reform
The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 placed a duty on local authorities and the governing bodies of maintained schools to limit the size of infant classes (classes containing a majority of five-, six-, or seven-year-olds) to 30 pupils per 'qualified teacher' (the Education (Infant Class Sizes) Regulations 1998).
The infant class size limit was imposed in relation to the 2001/02 school year and subsequent years.
The Education Act 2002 subsequently amended the School Standards and Framework Act to limit the size of infant classes to 30 pupils to a single 'school teacher' (as opposed to a single 'qualified teacher').
This means that schools will now meet the infant class size requirements if an infant group of no more than 30 is taught by a school teacher (defined by section 122 of the Education Act 2002 and the Education (School Teachers' Prescribed Qualifications, etc) Order 2003 which was made under that section). School teachers include:
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headteachers
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qualified teachers
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overseas trained teachers
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instructors with special qualifications or experience
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staff on an employment-based teacher training scheme
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gGraduate teachers
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registered teachers
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student teachers
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teacher trainees yet to pass the skills tests
'School teachers' do not include teaching assistants, higher-level teaching assistants or other support staff.
Consequently, a school must employ sufficient teachers to enable it to teach its infant classes in groups of no more than 30 per school teacher.
However, support staff are able to carry out 'specified work', such as delivering lessons to pupils, within infant classes in certain circumstances (see the Education (Specified Work and Registration) (England) Regulations 2003). In each case:
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the headteacher must be satisfied with the support staff's skills, expertise and experience to carry out such work
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the work carried out must be in order to assist or support the work of a 'school teacher'
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s/he must be subject to the direction and supervision of a 'school teacher' ('Supervision' does not mean that the teacher must be alongside the teaching assistant or HLTA etc., but that he or she is able to ensure that the member of support staff is effectively teaching the class.)
In practice, this means that although a school with infant classes must have sufficient school teachers to be able to teach its infants in groups of 30 or fewer per teacher, support staff — providing they meet the above criteria — may 'teach' infant groups when teachers are not available, e.g. when a teacher is away from their class on their Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA) time.
Support staff must not be the main 'teacher' for an infant group and where support staff are undertaking the more demanding aspects of "specified work" — particularly where they are working with whole classes — it is strongly recommended that the head teacher have regard to the higher-level teaching assistant (HLTA) standards in determining whether those staff have the necessary level of skills and expertise.
If a school were to use support staff instead of teachers to lead its infant groups, either as a permanent arrangement or for the majority of the school week on a regular basis, it would be in default of its class size duty.
Published: 30 May 2006
