Managing Larger Class Sizes
Class sizes are one of the educational fundamentals which really attract the attention of parents. Reports recently of one Year 9 Maths class of 46 students, add to the anecdotal evidence that Key Stage 4 class sizes are steadily increasing.
Funding Unlikely to Allow Any Reverse
With the well-publicised funding squeeze, and most secondaries funding it difficult to recruit for maths department vacancies, there is little chance of class sizes falling in the near future. The questions we should be asking are, then:
1. What are the implications of larger class sizes for teachers?
2. What can be done to help teachers manage larger classes?
Implications
Larger class sizes naturally mean less teacher time per student for marking and providing individual feedback. Yet, the expectations are that teachers should be facilitating students completing more assessment and providing more opportunities for feedback as students grapple the enhanced content of the reformed GCSEs. To maintain current student learning experiences in the face of increased class sizes and renewed emphasis upon teacher workload, alternative teaching delivery models need to be considered.
What Can Be Done?
Unsurprisingly, here at EzyEducation we believe that digital platforms can have a role to play. They can help relieve the marking pressures of teachers by automating some regular student assessment. Our platforms go one step further as their unique feedback videos, and intelligent assessment design ensure that this digital assessment is formative, meaning students learn from the experience rather than it being simply a time-filler.
The key, however, is not simply that departments subscribe to services like ours, but that they manage usage and integrate digital support into their regular ways of working. We have written a White Paper about how schools get the most out of digital platforms and the potentially transformative impact they can have.
