North Ayrshire and Arran MP Katy Clark has hit out at the SNPs step-down on class sizes. The SNP's manifesto pledged that primary 1,2 and 3 class sizes would be capped at 18 but the Scottish Government has now announced that maximum class size for primary 1 will be 25 with no announcement yet on the future of primary 2 and 3 class sizes.
Katy said, "The SNP promised that primaries one, two and three class sizes in Scotland would be reduced to 18. They have now announced that a maximum cap of 25 will be put in place for primary one classes. This is a huge step-down and is clearly abandoning another one of their manifesto pledges. "
"Despite attempts there can be no good spin attached to this announcement. Councils up and down the country have not been given the financial resources to implement this policy and the result has been that many class sizes have been rising despite falling school rolls. The SNP's class size pledge would no doubt have been a vote winner but has now been abandoned due to it not being workable, much like their local income tax."