Forum: Smaller classes and teacher quality go hand in hand
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The Ministry of Education’s decision to study smaller class sizes where needed is both prudent and promising (MOE to explore smaller classes where needed for more students in pilot with six schools, Sept 16).
Research suggests that reducing class sizes can improve academic performance, student engagement and long-term educational attainment.
On the other hand, McKinsey’s highly influential 2007 report, How The World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out On Top, argues that reducing class sizes is not the essential or primary factor in building a world-class education system.
Instead, it concludes that teacher quality is the single most important driver of student achievement. In my view, both factors are important and mutually reinforcing.
Smaller classes allow good teachers to give students more individual attention, while highly effective teachers are better able to make full use of the advantages that smaller classes provide.
Patrick Liew Siow Gian