SCHOOLS minister and South Dorset MP Jim Knight has found himself at the centre of a political storm after he was accused of saying it was okay for school classes to have up to 70 pupils.

It was reported that Mr Knight considered classes of 70 supervised by one teacher and a few teaching assistants to be acceptable in schools.

He was speaking to reporters following the Association of Teachers and Lecturers' annual conference in Torquay when he mentioned a Telford school where he had seen a charismatic teacher conduct one maths lesson with 70 pupils.

He said the room had been divided by screens, the teacher had been supported by three or four teaching assistants and the lesson was "perfectly acceptable" with "good learning going on".

His comments sparked fierce criticism from the Conservatives but Mr Knight told the Daily Echo: "I was referring to one particular example in one of the best schools in the country where a large lesson was effective.

"Generally we think that smaller class sizes are a good thing."

He said the government had employed thousands of extra teachers and teaching assistants.

He said: "We have the best ratio of adults to children in schools that we have ever had. But I was saying I don't want to legislate to reduce flexibility."

Mr Knight faced low-level jeering as he addressed the conference and was taken to task by one delegate on the level of government interference in teaching.

Mr Knight described the exchanges as a "friendly disagreement" and said: "There was a lot of good humour in the hall - even if the criticism was fairly pointed."