Class Size Research project
Welcome to the webpages for the Class size research project, run by the School of Psychology and Human Development at the Institute of Education, University of London, UK. The aim of these pages is to give an introduction to the project, detail some of the major findings and provide information on publications arising from the project.
The webpages describe results from a pioneering, independent research project of international significance, unique in its scale and methodology, and conducted by a large team at the Institute of Education, University of London.
The project aimed to study comprehensively for the first time in the UK the effect of class size and pupil/adult ratios upon pupils' academic attainment and on classroom processes such as teaching, pupil attention and pupil relations. The first section of the study examined the influence of class size from school entry in the reception year (4/5 years) through Key Stage 1 (5-7 years). The second stage of the study extended the project to an examination of Key Stage 2 (7-11 years). Both stages of the project are now complete.
The study offers an integrated account linking class size, classroom processes and academic attainment, and seeks to solve a long standing puzzle - why the view of professionals and parents that small classes provide a better quality of teaching and learning has not always been supported by research findings.
It identifies important implications for policy and practice, in terms of maximising opportunities of small classes and ways of minimising problems in large classes
The project was funded by the DfES, Local Authorities and the ESRC.
For a quick look at some recent findings, please click here to see a summary of the results which will be published in "Psychology of Classroom Learning: An Encyclopedia". Also, the team gave a paper on the effects of class size on teaching, and implications for classroom management to the 2006 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, in San Francisco. A summary can be obtained by clicking here.