Kindergarten Teacher-Child Ratios Part II

QUESTION OF THE DAY

What is/was the ratio of teachers-students in your kindergarten? Were you happy with that?
[Comment, retweet or link from your blog for an entry into the current giveaway]

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Following on from my last post, I went and did some digging to find out the accepted wisdom on teacher-child ratios.

I found this excerpt from the report “Accreditation Criteria and Procedures of the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs” by the National Association for the Education of Young Children based in Washington DC. It says, essentially, that kids at 5 years old should have a ratio of 1:8 if there are 16 kids, 1:10 if there are 20 kids. Does the fact that it doesn’t go beyond that, mean there should never be more than 20 five year olds in a class? Fat chance, eh?

The aim of these numbers, the report says, is to have enough staff available to:

provide frequent personal contact; meaningful learning activities; supervision; and to offer immediate care as needed

However, the report has a ‘Get Out Of Jail, Free’ card for schools, because it goes on to say,

Variations in group sizes and ratios are acceptable in many cases where the program demonstrates a very high level of compliance with criteria for interactions (A), curriculum (B), staff qualifications (D), health and safety (H), and physical environment (G).

My son was in a class of 24 with one teacher and it wasn’t a disaster, even with him being high-energy.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

What is/was the ratio of teachers-students in your kindergarten? Were you happy with that?
[Comment, retweet or link from your blog for an entry into the current giveaway]