Cut Class Sizes not Teacher Numbers urges Coulter
Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has said the Executive should not use the lower birth rates as an opportunity to cut teacher numbers in its bid to make financial savings in education.
Assemblyman Dr Coulter, who served as a member of the first Assembly’s Further and Higher Education and Training Committee and was himself a college lecturer for 18 years, emphasised that public services should be governed by quality and not just cost-effectiveness.
He added that there was “an urgent need” for the Executive to begin making major choices in the direction of quality delivery of public services.
Dr Coulter continued: “In the next decade, school pupil numbers will decline as a result of lower birth rates. Instead of seeing this as an opportunity to cut down on the number of teachers and save money, the Executive should be using this as an opportunity to cut down on class sizes. This would be a positive decision in favour of quality.
“The Finnish and Danish education systems are widely recognised as among the best in the world. They also have the lowest class sizes. The Office for Standards in Education has shown that this is a key feature of education in both Finland and Denmark.
“Similarly, the Health Service should be governed by quality and not be continually eating its head off in a fatuous attempt to achieve targets which are doing little more than keeping armies of bureaucrats in jobs.
“We are going to have to shift education, training, health and all our public services on to a quality footing otherwise we cannot hope to compete with low wage economies in the Far East.
“Instead, we should be focusing more on innovation and quality and on building a high-tech, high-value added economy like the Scandanavian countries.
“We should also be looking at ways to rebuild the cohesiveness of our society and introducing a greater sense of order and responsibility among our people,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.