Presented by Robert Clark MP		www.robertclark.net

Class sizes continue downward trend

According to 1999 class-size data, the average class-size in Victorian primary schools has fallen from 25.9 students last year to 25.4 this year.

About one third (3928) of primary classes have 24 or fewer students.

Prep class sizes also fell to an average of 23.2 students.

The proportion of classes with more than 30 students has dropped to 4.6%, almost halving over the past four years. In 1998 the figure was 6.9% and 8.2% in 1996. (553 classes out of a total of 12,049 now have more than 30 students.)

A trend toward the reduction of class sizes for intensive literacy and numeracy sessions conducted by specialists is in evidence in many schools.

(News Release, Office of the Minister for Education, June 17, 1999)