CONTRARY to the recent claims of David Blunkett, Dr Donald Webster (Letters April 12) was right when he pointed out that class sizes in secondary schools are the highest in 25 years.
He was also correct to state that Labour is spending less on education than the last Conservative government.
He could also have said, in the headlong rush to have all five, six and seven year olds taught in class sizes of 30 or less, thereby carrying out an election pledge, Labour has starved the rest of the education system of cash. Cutting back on spending on local sixth forms is just one example.
However, most parents are acutely aware of the increase in the number of primary school children being taught in mixed-age classes, which allows Labour to claim they have fulfilled this election pledge.
As a parent, I know how damaging this is for education and how hard it is for teachers to teach in these classes. Presumably this is what Labour means when it talks about the class struggle.
Michael McIntyre,
City of York Conservatives,
Ash Street, Poppleton Road, York.
Updated: 12:14 Wednesday, May 02, 2001
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