Class Size in Irish Primary Schools: 1967 to 2006

I referenced the class size debates in primary-level and higher education recently on this blog. Below is an abstract (also the first item on this link) from a research paper from the ERC in Drumcondra (Irish Journal of Education: Vol. 38, 2010). The paper discusses Govt. policy relating to reduction in primary-school class size over the last 50 years. During the time-period 1967/68 to 2005/06, overall class size dropped from 32.4:1 to 16.6:1. This of course masks variation, which can be examined for the last four years here: by primary-school and class-room.

CLASS SIZE AND PUPIL-TEACHER RATIO: POLICY AND PROGRESS
Susan Weir, Peter Archer, and Laura McAvinue
Educational Research Centre, St Patrick’s College, Dublin

Government policy relating to reduction in class size and pupil-teacher ratio over the past 50 years is outlined. Since the 1980s, the policy has focused on positive discrimination towards schools serving pupils in disadvantaged areas. An examination of statistics reveals a decline in overall pupil-teacher ratio from 32.4:1 to 16.6:1 over the period 1967/68 to 2005/06. Statistics for single-grade class size for the period 1985/86 to 2005/06 also show a decline, more so in junior than in senior classes. Time-series analyses indicate that the introduction of schemes involving reduction in class size to address disadvantage was associated with a perceptible departure from overall trends. Class size in the urban dimension of Giving Children an Even Break (GCEB) was found to be smaller than class size in other urban schools.

Job stress and satisfaction amongst Irish primary school principals

A recent article in the Irish Independent pointed to difficulties that primary schools in Ireland were having in attracting applicants for vacancies "Longer working hours, increased bureaucracy and poor rewards are thought to be the main causes of the poor take-up of jobs" it concluded. If so this is a serious problem. Interestingly, the Sunday Business Post recently carried an article suggesting that Irish public sector workers, including primary teachers, were comparatively well paid.
So what evidence do we have ? Growing Up in Ireland actually has some very good data on this and related issues. The principals in which the 9 year olds were pupils were asked about their stress levels. This is not a random sample of principals note: in schools where there are more than one study child then that principal will be counted more than once. But since these will tend to be in bigger schools this makes sense. So it should be reasonably representative of the population I think.
So what did they say? The graph below gives the responses and indicates fairly high stress levels. Almost 68% were "very" or "fairly" stressed.













The principals were also asked about job satisfaction. The results there suggest a different picture.Over 95% are "very" or "fairly" satisfied by their job. So based on this criterion, it would seem that our principals are not doing too badly and it is harder to understand why there might be recruitment difficulties. It may well be the case that it is particular types of school that are experiencing problems retaining or recruiting principals. It would be an interesting task to use this rich data source to explore what are the predictors of principals' (& teachers') job stress and satisfaction.