A Dublin teacher is appealing to parents, guardians and grandparents in the capital to use their voice to tackle supersized classes in their local schools.
Figures recently published by the Department of Education and Youth confirmed that the number of supersized classes of over 35 pupils jumped by more than 450 during the last school year.
There are now 2,237 classes in Ireland that have 35+ pupils crammed into them – with the Department itself classifying such classes with the official term “very large”, while classes of 30+ are deemed “large”. In the rest of Europe, 20 per class is considered too big – yet in Ireland, 428,941 children are in classes above the EU average of 19.
Nearly a quarter of roughly 3,000 primary schools across the country had at least one supersized class last year.
Four per cent of Dublin pupils in the county are in enormous classes of 30 or more, and some of the worst affected schools in the country are based in the capital.
Denis Everett, an INTO union activist and South County Dublin primary school teacher explained that Ireland’s class sizes are “the shame of Europe.”
He said, “I’m not sure most parents, guardians or grandparents realise our supersized primary class are the shame of Europe. During the summer, education minister Hildegarde Naughton unashamedly stated there were 1,251 classes with 30 children or more in our primary schools.”
“In Ireland, classroom teachers are provided for 23 pupils — whereas average class sizes in Croatia, Greece and Latvia are well below the EU average of 19. Some are as low as 13,” Everett noted.
“If you are a parent, guardian or grandparent, you need to raise your voice with your local TD as these supersized classes create major challenges for teachers and belong to a bygone age. They have a serious impact on how much attention can be paid to individual children, and limit teachers’ ability to ensure every child has a good classroom experience.”
Since August 2024, the government has cut the number of mainstream class teachers by over 900.
iNTO said, “the failure to retain these vital teaching posts at a time when pupil enrolment has been falling has done untold damage.”
Everett said “this summer alone, a projected 498 classrooms were closed after their schools lost a teaching post. The children who were taught by that teacher last June had to be sub-divided among remaining teachers making many classes in these schools even bigger from September.”
“This could easily have been avoided had the government improved Ireland’s class sizes in last year’s budget. And this happened after the Government promised in its own programme that they would reduce class sizes from 23 to 19,” he said.
“If the government continues to renege on its commitment, ignoring the pleas of parents, teachers and school management we risk another 2,000 classrooms being shut down between now and the end of their term of office.”