Are class size differences related to pupils’ educational progress and classroom processes? Findings from the Institute of Education Class Size Study of children aged 5-7 Years

Because of the way the variables were defined, these results also mean that there was a
correlation between size of class and non-teaching time, like register etc. That is, the
larger the class the more non-teaching time.

In addition, some of the clearest findings were those concerning connections between
class size and adults giving support to children as they read - a strategy that has been
central in the teaching of reading to young children. The quantitative results from the
time estimate data showed that in large classes children are heard to read by their
teachers less often and for less time (see Blatchford, in press, a).

Results from the other main quantitative method, systematic observation, were perhaps
the clearest of all. Differences between large and small classes in terms of time in the
three main ‘social modes’ are shown in Fig. 2. It can be seen that children in smaller
classes were observed interacting more with their teachers; on average in a small class
children were observed 213 times with their teacher, as compared to 144 times in a large
class. Conversely, in a large class children interacted more with each other and spent
more time not interacting. All differences were statistically significant.

Fig. 2 about here

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