Towards a Better Future

Towards a Better Future: A Review of the Irish School System
STUDENT TEACHER RATIO AND CLASS SIZE
The OECD describes the relationship between class size and student teacher ratio as follows:
‘the student-teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the number of full-time
equivalent students by the number of full-time equivalent teachers at a given level
of education and type of institution. Class size, on the other hand, takes into account
a number of different elements: the ratio of students to teaching staff, the number
of classes or students for which a teacher is responsible, the amount of instruction
time compared to the length of teachers’ working days, the proportion of time
teachers spend teaching, how students are grouped within classes, and team-teaching
arrangements’.
(OECD, 2015, p.421)
As regards class size, the only figure presented for Ireland in 2013 and in 2014 was for primary level.
Average class size, at 25, for Irish primary schools was higher than that of the OECD average of 21
or the EU average of 20. This was the fifth highest figure, with Chile, Israel, Japan and the UK being
higher (OECD, 2015, p. 423; 2016a, p. 401).
In the years 2013 and 2014, Ireland also had higher ratios of students to teaching staff than the
OECD and EU ratios at both primary and secondary levels. Ireland’s ratios were 16 for primary and
14 for secondary, while the OECD’s were 15 at primary, 13 at secondary overall, and the EU’s were
14 at primary and 11 (2013) and 12 (2014) at secondary (OECD, 2015, p.424; 2016a, p. 403).
THE TIME TEACHERS SPEND TEACHING
The amount of time teachers spend teaching also affects the financial resources countries need to
allocate to education. Irish teachers will be very conscious of occasional perceptions in the media
and among the public that they teach fewer hours than is the case in other countries. Comparisons
provided by Education at a Glance 2015 and 2016 illustrate that this is not so. The number of teaching
hours per year by Irish teachers in primary schools is higher than in secondary schools and is higher
than the OECD average (OECD, 2015, p. 452). Teaching hours in Ireland are significantly longer
than the OECD average, at 915 hours per year at primary level (compared to the OECD average
of 776 hours) and 735 hours at upper secondary level (compared to the OECD average of 644
hours) (OECD, 2016a). The number of teaching hours per year by Irish teachers in lower secondary
education is above the OECD average and rose slightly due to agreements during the economic
crisis (see Figure 5 below – those for upper secondary were not provided in this figure).
— 178 —