A new Government-sponsored report has claimed that class sizes at second level in the Republic remain far too large, with many small schools unable to provide their pupils with a full range of subjects.
The report by Trinity College academic, Dr Séamus McGuinness, found that less than half the country's smaller schools are able to provide physics or chemistry to their students.
The report also found that in core subjects such as maths, Irish and English there are often more than 30 pupils in a class.
Responding to the report yesterday, the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, announced the creation of 400 new teaching posts in a further attempt to drive down the pupil-teacher ratio. However, the report says in the long term 1,200 new posts will be required.
Dr McGuinness says in his report that considerable investment has gone into remedial, guidance and home school liaison areas in recent years, but while welcome, has had "minimal impact in reducing class sizes".
He said the levels of teacher allocation since the cutbacks of the 1980s had not been restored. Whereas in 1970 a teacher was allocated for every 15 pupils in a school, in 2000 a teacher was only allocated for every 18 pupils in a school.
His report, "The Allocation of Teachers To Second Level Schools", recommends that in future for every 15 pupils a teacher be allocated. He says this should at least happen for the first 150 pupils in a school.
If this is done smaller schools will be able to offer a better range of subjects, including music, a second modern language and physics and chemistry. He said it would also reduce numbers in s English, Irish and maths.
He says teachers are "one of the most valuable resources in the education system", but are also one of the most expensive, with teacher's salaries accounting for 80 per cent of the education budget.
The data also shows that almost all schools offer four core subjects: maths, English, Irish and French. But outside of these four there is great variety.
The comparatively low availability of chemistry (only 41 per cent of smaller schools offer it) will worry education policy makers and the Government which is seeking to increase the take-up of science subjects. The report defines smaller schools as those with less than 300 pupils.
The report also criticises the current ratio of guidance teachers to pupils. It suggests there should be 22 hours of guidance available a week for every 400 students in a school, subject to certain conditions.
The general secretary of the school managers association, the Joint Managerial Body, Mr George O'Callaghan said urgent improvements were needed in the pupil teacher ratio. He said the Department of Education's allocation formula should be one teacher for every 15 pupils and it "should be across the board".