Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland, No.3: 2012 Edition

This contains the results of the annual pupil census, annual teacher census, pre-school data and school estate data.


Table 3.1 shows the distribution of P1-P3 pupils in publicly funded schools by ranges of class size. The Scottish Government is committed to working with local authorities to maintain the reductions in class size in the early stages of primary education seen in recent years, and will continue with progressive reductions in the future. At September 2012, 18.8 per cent of P1-P3 pupils were taught in classes of 18 or fewer (including those taught by two teachers at all times with a class size of 36 or less), down 1.4 percentage points from 2011. The number of pupils taught in classes of 26 or more decreased from 57,424 in 2006 to a low of 32,702 in September 2009, before increasing again. In September 2012, the number of pupils taught in classes of 26 or more was 38,278 which is 23.2 per cent of pupils.

Table 3.1: Class sizes of P1-P3 pupils, 2006-2012(1)

Class Size 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
1 - 18 19,923 23,563 23,835 25,039 34,351 32,580 31,101
19 - 20 13,305 16,461 16,220 16,535 14,293 15,121 15,655
21 - 25 66,220 74,446 80,151 81,332 70,687 76,499 80,243
26 - 30 56,516 39,482 33,423 32,327 39,087 36,679 37,805
31 or more 908 345 317 375 249 757 473
% in classes of 18 or less or in 2 teacher classes of 36 or less 12.7 15.3 15.5 16.1 21.6 20.2 18.8

(1) The percentage of P1-P3 pupils in classes of 18 or fewer include two-teacher classes with 36 or less. Classes taught by two teachers at all times are treated as two classes of half the size.

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Email: Kieran Furness

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