Feeling the squeeze

Huge numbers of children are being taught in classes with over 30 pupils, but does it make a difference to teaching and learning? Not always, says Michael Tidd...

For the first time this year, secondary schools weren’t faced with claims that rising GCSE grades were evidence of dumbing down, because grades fell. But even as one predictable story vanished, another took its place: it seems each summer we are now greeted with news that ever more children are being taught in classes of over 30 pupils.

Of course, none of it matters because, as we’re constantly told, class size doesn’t make a difference. And as unpopular as it might be, up to a point, I’m going to agree. But bear with me.

I have taught classes ranging from 24 (for a few glorious weeks) to 33 children over the last few years in junior and middle schools. Can I show with any certainty that the progress of the young people I’ve taught has been better in the smaller of those classes? Not really. Can I show that the methods I used with smaller classes will have helped them to make better progress in the long term? Not at all. And here lies the problem: quantifying learning is a tricky enough business as it is; identifying the impact of a single change is even harder.

The modern bible of educational funding now is the Sutton Trust / EEF toolkit, which sheds a little light for us: it estimates that smaller class sizes have the effect of improving progress by up to three months per year – a not unsubstantial claim. However, there’s the rub: the cost of achieving it is enormous, since the evidence also shows that for such gains to be achieved, classes need to be reduced to below 20! It seems that for any number greater than that, teachers don’t make significant enough changes to their practice to make a difference.

Now, you or I might say that’s a perfectly good argument for a massive increase in teacher numbers to allow children to be taught in classes of no more than 20. Maybe then we might see an impact. But the reality is few of us believe that’s achievable, especially in the current climate where we can’t find enough school places for the children we’ve already got.

So what of the impact at the other end of the scale? If 20 is better than 30, then surely 30 must be better than 40? Well, it seems the research is pretty much the same here: if we don’t change the way we teach, then there won’t be an impact on the learning.

So, should we scrap the class-size limits altogether?

Well, there’s another factor to consider. Watching one of those airport documentaries recently (that’s the summer holidays for you!), I heard a member of the British Airways staff say something I thought quite wise: “If they want us to provide this excellent service to our customers… then they need to look after us a bit too.”

It’s all too easy to forget that just because the measurable impacts are hard to quantify, there are plenty of realistic issues with class sizes that any teacher who has taught more than 30 children at once can happily share with you. Let’s start with the practicality of fitting pupils in the room, or providing enough trays or coat hooks. Struggling to get comfortable at 9 o’clock is hardly going to set the best pattern for learning. Then let’s consider the quality of interaction in the lessons. And for any teacher who has taught more than 30 children at the top of Key Stage 2, the marking load will stand out in their memory as an issue. The more we find out about quality feedback, the more it seems that it should be one of the most effective ways of raising outcomes. But try marking 34 extended narratives on a Friday night and then tell me that class size doesn’t have an impact.

The truth is, I’d quite happily teach classes of 60. I can present an idea, model some practice, and provide appropriate activities for that many children just as effectively as I can for 30 or even 25. But don’t expect me to be able to mark the books in anything like as much detail. Don’t expect me to have a handle on the progress of each individual.

So it’s true that the research tells us that class size doesn’t matter – on its own. Mind you, nor do longer teaching days and terms, but that doesn’t stop anyone advocating those, does it?

About the author

Michael Tidd is deputy headteacher at Edgewood Primary School in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire.