Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of growing class sizes on (a) the academic attainment of students and (b) the quality of lessons.

Our school system will drive high and rising standards, across every school and for every child. We aim to deliver these improvements through excellent teaching and leadership, a high-quality curriculum, robust accountability and faster school improvement, and a system which removes additional barriers to learning.

Class sizes in primary and infant classes have been on a downwards trend in recent years, while secondary school classes have increased only slightly in line with demographic trends.

The quality of teaching is the most significant within-school factor in improving outcomes for children. This is why as our first steps for change, we are committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament, reflecting the demographic trend of more pupils moving into upper secondary school and 16 to 19.

To further strengthen the foundations of learning, we have also launched an independent, expert-led curriculum and assessment review which seeks to deliver an excellent foundation in the core subjects of reading, writing and mathematics, and a broader, high-quality knowledge-rich curriculum that readies young people for life and work.