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Small classes promote best practices, study finds

Liz Heron

A raft of classroom practices widely considered to promote learning are more likely to be found in small classes, a study of English-language lessons in the city's secondary schools has found.

Findings of the three-year study by Gary Harfitt, assistant professor in the University of Hong Kong's faculty of education, were unveiled yesterday at a public lecture at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

The qualitative study compared the teaching and learning processes in small and large English-language classes taught by the same teacher at junior secondary level in six schools over five to nine lessons.

Harfitt examined teachers' perceptions and surveyed the views of the 305 pupils involved as well as making detailed observations of classroom behaviour and interaction of 79 lessons. The large classes had 37 pupils or more and the small ones had 27 or fewer.

The study found that in smaller classes teachers were far more likely to use pupils' names in class, and made greater use of humour, open questions and addressing pupils individually.

Interaction between pupils was also more common in smaller classes, with one case study showing 38 examples of pupils helping each other in class compared to 15 in the larger class.

And there was less than half the number of instances of pupils lying with their heads on desks and not taking part at all in the smaller classes compared to the larger ones.

Pupils were also more likely to actively participate in smaller classes, with a total of 52 instances of pupils initiating interaction with the teacher compared to 16 in the large ones.

'There was more participation from students in smaller classes and I found better relationships. Teachers knew their students and as a result they could get better feedback,' Harfitt said.

'My conclusion is that class size itself is a key factor, no doubt. But it is the processes that are going on in the class that are crucial. The key processes were all more likely to be fostered in the small classes I observed.'

Harfitt said he believed small-class teaching should be introduced more widely at secondary level, but for educational reasons rather than administrative ones. And it was essential for schools to provide opportunities for teachers to collaborate and develop good practices to maximise the educational opportunities that small-class teaching provided.

'I think there is more chance of the new senior secondary curriculum succeeding in raising standards if small classes were to be introduced across secondary schools,' he said.

Harfitt cautioned that the findings of his study could not be generalised to other subjects.

Comparing numbers

The study followed the same teachers over five to nine lessons

The large classes involved in the research had 37 pupils or more and the small ones had up to: 27

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