Pauline Etienne
4 March 2008
Port Louis — Teachers often complain about overcrowded classrooms. This is indeed one of the characteristics of our schools - and also one of their main weaknesses. All educationists agree on the fact that it is much easier to teach a class of 20 pupils rather than one of 40 or 45.In big classes the effort made by the teachers must inevitably be greater and the benefits gained by pupils definitely lower. However, there are a few tricks that can be used to try and get around this difficulty.
Educationist Vassen Naeck, lecturer at the Mauritius Institute of Education, is clear about one thing. Teachers are given the tools and skills to deal with mixed ability classes but the realities of large classrooms make it very difficult to put them into practise. "Teachers learn to plan their work so that they can deal with high, medium and low abilities at the same time. This is possible with a class of 20 to 25 pupils maximum but not with a class of up to 40 pupils as is presently the case in our schools," he pointed out. He further explained that it then becomes "very difficult for teachers to approach their work with the right attitude, give proper follow up and make sure they finish the curriculum".
In fact, large classes do not give much choice to teachers who can't offer proper individual attention to every child. "Some pupils are inevitably left to their own devices," he regretfully said. British research has shown that "small classes of between 15 and 20 students result in learning gains as measured by standardized tests in reading and mathematics, with the most marked improvement in the earlier grades".
If pupils can sometimes feel left out in large classrooms, teachers may not feel at ease either. Classroom methods are restricted to little more than lecturing - so teachers might feel discouraged while pupils do not get the best out of this method either. It is a fact that with overcrowded classrooms, new and more dynamic teaching strategies and techniques can't be implemented.
It also becomes very hard to develop relationships with pupils and this makes the teaching exercise even more difficult.
However, an educationist who gained much experience in Australia and who used to visit Mauritius to try and help local schools, Irlande Alfred, refuses to see only the negative side. According her, it is a part of the teacher's role to find a way of getting pupils' attention despite the overcrowded environment. "School staff would only need to be a bit more creative to partly solve the difficulty," she said speaking of the problem of large classes in local schools.
"We could for instance be creative about timetabling to decrease the number of students in class. Half the class could go to the computer room or library to do research or prepare for an oral presentation while the other half would remain in class with the teacher and then they would swap," she suggested. This system would indeed enable children to do some personal work or research on their own and the teacher would have more time for each of them when they are in the classroom.
In fact, the same logic could apply for group work. This is one of the best ways of breaking the ice between students themselves as well as with teachers. While moving through the various groups to try and help pupils, teachers would be able to concentrate on each individual child in turn. However, this would require a good measure of organization on the part of the teachers
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 L'Express. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
