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Could it be RIP to the dream of no more than 18 pupils to each P1-3 class across Scotland?

Teachers may be mourning that for most the chances are now slim of being able to spend those extra few moments with each individual child.

It was a key policy for the SNP in the run-up to the last Scottish elections.

Tomorrow , the education secretary, will put forward in Holyrood Parliament a proposal that classes should be legally capped in early primary - but at 25 pupils - and only in P1.

You may have heard we live in a different world now. The country is skint. That makes it difficult to deliver on a policy which is very expensive.

Opposition parties maintain it is so ambitious a policy that it was always in danger of not being delivered.

Earlier this year the Scottish government scaled down its ambition, inviting local authorities to aim for the time being to have 20 per cent in classes of 18, rather than 100 per cent.

Now if anything classes may expand as cash-strapped local councils try to make savings.

Callers to phone-in programmes often cite that there were almost 50 in their primary classes. Classes in Africa can have up to 100 children. It's hard to explain to the general public that teaching methods here in 2010 are different.

Staff now juggle active learning and personal learning plans and they strive to meet the needs of children who need additional support for learning.

These polices remain but teachers may feel in a tough financial climate they do not have the class sizes many feel are necessary to make these policies meaningful.