The size of our classes is the primary problem

Class size directly affects the quality of children's education and the quality of working life for teachers. According to the most recently published Department of Education and Science statistics, there are more than 230,000 children in classes of 20 to 29 pupils, and more than 161,000 in classes of 30 to 40 pupils. An OECD publication Education at a Glance 2000 shows that the ratio of children to teachers in Irish primary schools is the second-highest of 19 OECD countries measured.

Last week, I visited a school that benefits from the "Breaking the Cycle" programme. A visit to one of the classrooms brought back some vivid memories of my first days as a teacher and put into sharp focus the unacceptability of large classes in so many primary schools today. In the "Breaking the Cycle" classroom, I witnessed the ease with which 15 six-year-old children moved around a spacious classroom, and the intimacy of the relationships between children and between the teacher and each child.

It contrasted starkly with my own first days as a primary teacher, newly graduated from Carysfort. It was the summer of 1974 and I had 46 children in a prefab in a Dublin suburb.

Too many aspects of my first classroom experience are still common today. Then, like now, a new curriculum had just arrived in schools. The current revised curriculum promotes the active involvement of children in a learning process that should be both imaginative and stimulating. While teachers support the aspirations, the ideals and the principles of the new curriculum, it is impossible to implement it effectively and fully in the large classes that are the norm in so many schools today. Imagine the conditions in a two-teacher school with 54 children where the number of pupils is just two short of the 56 required to appoint a third teacher. One teacher has 30 children, aged eight to 12 years, spanning third, fourth, fifth and sixth classes. There is a nine-year-old in a wheelchair who needs individual attention throughout the day. There is a special-needs assistant without special training. The teacher in question is also the principal. Her office is her desk, the staffroom is the classroom and the school telephone is in the corner of the same room.

Unfortunately this is not an isolated example; it reflects the real experiences of too many teachers and children, in urban and rural classrooms. These two teachers agree with the aspirations the ideals and principles of the new curriculum and as true professionals are attempting to meet the challenge in these less-than-ideal conditions.

The class of 15 that I visited represents the kind of setting in which children can reach their full potential and teachers can get satisfaction from the work they do. It is the kind of learning environment that children and teachers require and deserve. Irish parents are generous in their acknowledgement of the contribution the teacher makes to the transformation of their children from infant level to their teenage years. It is a pity that Government and policy-makers are not equally generous when it comes to investing in primary education and rewarding and paying teachers for their contribution.

The table below shows that Ireland comes just above Greece and at the bottom of 14 EU countries on expenditure per child in primary schools. Teachers lay the sound foundations on which the skills and knowledge needed for high levels of productivity in our economy are built. We can take pride in this. We sustain Ireland's future prosperity in a most fundamental way. But we do more than this. Much more. The smile of achievement and joy on the face of a five-year-old, when he runs out of the school playground to show a parent a painting or when he reads or writes for the first time, cannot be measured in terms of economic output. Everyone in Irish society has had to adapt to rapid and extensive change over the past decade. Some of these changes have been very public; for example, the level of transparency required in public life is now unprecedented. But other changes have been hidden from public view and these include the quiet revolution that has taken place behind the door of every classroom from Tallaght to Tuam.

In more recent times teachers have embraced even greater change in the demands of information and communication technologies; the revised curriculum; the integration of children with special needs and the arrival of non-nationals with little or perhaps no English in a classroom of 30 or more children. This is teacher productivity adaptation to change - and added value in action. There will be no trade-off between reducing class size or increasing teachers' salaries. Both are essential. A top-class education service demands better individual attention for children and better salaries for teachers. This will guarantee the retention of able and dedicated graduates in a noble profession.

Catherine Byrne is the assistant general secretary of Irish National Teachers Organisation