<p>
	Almost 120,000 primary school pupils are still in classes of 30 or more.</p>
<p>
	A child&#39;s chance of avoiding a &quot;super-size&quot; class comes down to a postcode lottery.</p>
<p>
	On average, almost one-in-four, 22pc, primary pupils is in classes of 30-plus, but it varies from as high of 28pc in Co Limerick to 11.5pc in Waterford city.</p>
<p>
	After Limerick, the worst hit areas are Meath, D&uacute;n Laoghaire-Rathdown, Co Cork, Co Waterford, Monaghan and Wexford.</p>
<p>
	Class sizes are also above the national average in Leitrim, Wicklow, Galway, Kerry, Laois, Longford, Louth, Tipperary (north), and Dublin Fingal.</p>
<p>
	Recently published Department of Education figures provide a school-by-school breakdown of class size in the 2016/2017 year.</p>
<p>
	They show that the biggest classes tend to be in Dublin&#39;s outer suburbs and extended commuter belt and provincial towns that have seen huge population growth over the past decade.</p>
<p>
	The 2016/17 year saw the first improvement in class sizes for many years, as a result of a Budget 2016 decision to recruit extra teachers for this purpose last September.</p>
<p>
	Nationally, the proportion of pupils in classes of 30-plus has reduced from 24pc to 22pc, but there remains 118,326 children in large classes.</p>
<p>
	The Government has committed to a further improvement, and the issue is covered in the &#39;confidence and supply&#39; agreement with Fianna F&aacute;il.</p>
<p>
	But there has been no change in Budget 2017 and, as discussions on the Budget 2018 get under way, it is not known what priority the matter is receiving.</p>
<p>
	Balanced</p>
<p>
	A spokesman for Education Minister Richard Bruton confirmed it was the &quot;minister&#39;s intention to make further improvements to class sizes over the life of the Government&quot;.</p>
<p>
	However, he added that the minister &quot;recognises there are needs across the system which have to be balanced in the decisions made in each Budget&quot;.</p>
<p>
	The spokesman said schools are also requested, where possible, to use their autonomy under the staffing schedule to implement smaller class sizes for junior classes.</p>
<p>
	Fianna F&aacute;il education spokesman Thomas Byrne said reducing oversized classes at primary level, especially for under-nines, was a key demand of the party in the &#39;confidence and supply&#39; agreement and &quot;we will be pushing the Government to make good on this commitment in the Budget.&quot;</p>
<p>
	He said it was &quot;extraordinary that the Action Plan on Education is silent on the impact of overcrowded classrooms on children&#39;s education&quot;.</p>
<p>
	The Irish National Teachers&#39; Organisation (INTO) said the number of children in &#39;super-sized&#39; classes in Ireland remained unacceptably high.</p>
<p>
	INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan accused the Government of failing in its commitments to reduce class sizes.</p>
<p>
	&quot;Irish primary schools have the second biggest classes in the EU. As long as that is the case, the minister&#39;s ambition for education system will fail.</p>
<p>
	&quot;Modern teaching is becoming impossible in overcrowded classes and learning is compromised.</p>
<p>
	&quot;How can one teacher with 30-plus pupils hear each one read and keep them on task with written work in two languages, check maths progress and tackle bullying,&quot; she said.</p>
<p>
	Ms Nunan said if the minister wanted reforms such as coding and more technology then smaller classes had to be the priority. &quot;If not, all the action plans in the world are worthless,&quot; she added.</p>
<p>
	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	(Published by the Irish Independent on the 17th July 2017)</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/brutons-reforms-failing-as-120000-children-still-in-supersized-classes-35936759.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/brutons-reforms-failing-as-120000-children-still-in-supersized-classes-35936759.html</a></p>
