professional self-perception. If this is true then relations between class size and outcomes
are complicated by ways in which teachers may compensate for the expected negative
effects - a nice example of how a simple model of causality does not work in real life!
3. Effects on children
We were interested in pupil social and behavioural adjustment in terms of two main
components: inattentiveness/off-task behaviour and peer relations. Regardless of any
connection with class size, studies of classroom processes related to pupil achievement,
going back decades, support the view that a key aspect of educational success is
attentiveness, or active learning time, time on task or some equivalent term (e.g.,
Creemers, 1994). We wanted to know more about the connection between
inattentiveness and off task behaviour and class size. Common sense would suggest that
with more children in the class there will be more potential for distraction, and more
possibility of being off task. Finn and Achilles (1999) have expressed the connection
between small classes and pupil attention or engagement in class perhaps most clearly.
But again the research evidence was not clear. With regard to peer relations, there is a lot
of evidence that difficulties with peers appear to be important in later personal
adjustment and social functioning but a main point to make is that there is little research
on the effects of contextual classroom factors like class size on peer social relations.
Our strongest prediction was that there would be a tendency as class size increased for
children to show more signs of being inattentive and off task. We also predicted that
there would be more signs of social difficulties between children as class size increased,
in the form of more rejection and asocial behaviour, less prosocial behaviour, more signs
of anxious behaviour, and more aggressive behaviour. We used two types of data: those
from systematic observations and from the Pupil Behaviour Ratings (PBR).
The results showed three main ways in which class size affects children.
i. More active involvement with teachers
The observation results showed that in smaller classes children did not just receive more
contacts from teachers, but also had a more active role themselves, in terms of more
child initiations and responses to the teacher. This finding was supported by teacher
reports and case studies (Blatchford, in press, a).
ii. Pupil inattentiveness and off task behaviour
Results from the systematic observations showed that children in large classes were
twice as likely to be off task. This was evident in all three social modes: in contacts
with their teachers they were less likely to attend to her and were more off task; with
other children they were more likely to be actively off task; and when on their own
they were more likely to be off task, especially in the passive form of being
disengaged from allocated work. Results from the teacher completed Pupil Behaviour
Ratings (PBR) were less clear, though there were modest but significant relationships
between class size and distractibility; the larger the class the more distracted the
children. See Blatchford, Edmonds and Martin (in press) for full details. These results
were supported by qualitative analyses which showed that teachers found that in
larger groups (more likely in larger classes) it was harder for pupils to concentrate
(see above).
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