Some thoughts on the size of classes and pupils. And an odd letter through the mail.

I have long been convinced that huge classes are not a good idea in schools. My junior four, now called year 6, class photo shows a class of close on fifty pupils. Ours was a four stream entry junior school, quite rigidly streamed according to perceived ability: A, AP (P for parallel as they were supposed to be the same as A but not quite as good!), B and C. My photo showed class 4A. We were the top class and, therefore, had more pupils that 4AP, because we were expected to be bright and intelligent enough to be able to work quietly and to need less individual attention. The class sizes went down according to the perceived ability of the pupils. There was some movement between classes but not a great deal. Only the A and AP pupils were entered for the 11+ examination to decide our fate for secondary education.

Then I moved on to secondary school, first of all at the local secondary modern where I was in a class of 40+ pupils. Classroom control was strict and often involved shouting and a certain amount of corporal punishment.  Some of us were offered the chance to sit the 12+ examination, and so at age 12 I changed schools to attend the local girls’ grammar school. There we were in classes of around 25 girls. Teachers did not, as a rule, shout at us. It was “expected” that we would be civilised. Personally I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The whole school, including sixth form probably had no more than 700 pupils in total. The headmistress had her faults but she knew all of us by name. Walking down the corridor, if you crossed her path she greeted you by name. How did she do that?

At the time I thought little of it. I just enjoyed the experience. Okay, I was a bit of a swot. But that laid the foundations for later my belief that everyone should have the chance for that kind of school experience. I was convinced of the injustice of labelling children as clever or not so clever, and from an early age, and believed that comprehensive education would do trick. And in my early years as a secondary school teacher I watched at least one pupil progress from a lower stream class, up through the fairly rigid classification into higher streams, on into sixth form and eventually to Oxford University. A success story! 

I still think that small class sizes work better than large ones. I also think that smaller schools work better than the huge 2000+ establishments that abound nowadays. I’m betting that it’s impossible for a headteacher to know all the pupils of his/her school by name. 

When I became a teacher and joined the union, one of the most frequent motions put to union meeting regarded class size, always trying to bring the legal limit down to below 30. And the argument still goes on. From a report on the NAS/UWT conference I came upon this:

“NASUWT members will vote on a motion calling for governments and administrations across the UK to introduce maximum class sizes at all key stages of education. Currently, there is no statutory limit on the size of any class above key stage one for pupils aged 5–7 in England and Wales, where classes are limited to 30 or below.”

But nowadays apparently it’s not just the size of classes but the size of pupils themselves that contributes to the problem. “It’s not just the number of pupils in the room, it’s also about the increase in size of the pupils themselves,” said one teacher. “When I look around [my school] now it’s not the fact that these rooms have shrunk it’s that the students have grown.”

In the 1970s, she said the average teenage boy was shorter, slighter and had smaller feet than today. “Now they are crammed into chairs and desks which are absolutely not suitable for them … and where do they put their feet? In the aisle.”

People are getting larger - taller and generally larger not just more obese! 

I don’t think any amount of discussion and voting on motions can make a difference to that!

Here’s something different. We have received a letter this morning from the Jehovah’s Witnesses, inviting us to a special event - the anniversary of Christ’s death on Friday 15th April - and to a talk on the following Sunday, the 17th? Unfortunately, whoever sent the letter put a second class stamp on it rather than a first class stamp and the letter didn’t arrive until today, Tuesday the 19th. Oops!

The nearest Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is in Mossley, close to here but far enough away to need a 15 minutes car journey or almost half an hour on the bus. The handwritten letter begins with “Dear  Neighbour”, so is it someone who lives close by. It’s not someone we know well as the envelope simply has our address but no name. I don’t think we’ll ever know who sent it so I won’t be able to advise them not to waste money on writing to us again. So it goes!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!