CLASS SIZE IN SCHOOLS (Reduction)

Mr Low Thia Khiang asked the Minister for Education whether he will consider reducing class size in schools in view of a recent study by Tennessee State University in the United States which concluded that students in small classes outperform those in large classes.

The Minister for Education (Mr Lee Yock Suan): Mr Speaker, Sir, research evidence on the effect of reducing class size on pupil achievement is inconclusive. While studies such as the one conducted in Tennessee favour small classes, there are other studies which suggest that small class sizes do not result in any gain in pupil achievement.

Better instructional methods and the use of information technology may well result in larger achievement gains. This is an important consideration in view of our limited manpower and land. A reduction in class size will entail the recruitment of significantly more teachers and the building of more schools. We should not commit such scarce resources unless there is strong and conclusive evidence that smaller classes do in fact bring about significant gains in pupil achievement.

Schools in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong generally have large classes of 40 or more pupils per class. Yet they have achieved better academic performance than western countries with much smaller class sizes. In Singapore, our better and more popular schools tend to have larger class sizes than schools with declining enrolment. One reason for the smaller class sizes in western countries is their reluctance or inability to close schools which have declining enrolment.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Sir, in the March 1992 Budget debate, I raised the same issue and in his answer, the Minister referred to the US computer studies of educational achievement. He said that class size did not matter. Whereas this study shows that smaller classes will help students to perform better. The Minister says that it is inconclusive. I would like to know from the Minister whether he is saying that the report he cited earlier from the US is more conclusive than this one.

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Sir, over the years, there have been many studies. I did not just cite one study. There were in fact many studies in the United States, in UK and so on. And the studies have been inconclusive in general. Some show improvements, others show no improvement or, in fact, worse performance. This particular study shows improvement.

For the information of Members, the study involved a reduction of class size from 24 to 15. That means a reduction of about one-third, and they applied it to pupils in kindergarten to Grade 3, which is our Primary 3. Even then, despite the substantial reduction in class size by over a third, the achievement gains were relatively small. In our case, the norm is 40 students per class. And it may be of interest to Members that the top school in Singapore at 'O' levels, Raffles Girls School, in fact, has 40 students per class.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Sir, would the Ministry consider conducting a study in Singapore to determine whether class size does have an effect on students' performance?

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Sir, a study of this nature was done a few years ago. Again, the results were inconclusive.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: In Singapore?

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Yes, the study was done in Singapore.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Sir, the Minister said that class size in Japan was large and yet they had good results. Does the Minister realise that they have some kind of force-feed system there? The students are sent to cram classes to force knowledge into them. In Singapore, I think we are getting near to that with the vast increase in private tuition. Is this evidence not an indictment of a large class size?

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Sir, the pupils' performance depends on many factors. Of course, tuition is one factor. But it also depends on how ready the pupils are for schooling. In the United States, many of the pupils enter school not prepared for schooling at all because of the family environment. The discipline situation in the class is very poor. If a teacher spends most of his time with a few pupils who are naughty, it will be wasting the time of the other students. In our case, the pupils are generally well behaved and ready to learn. So when a teacher explains a lesson to a class of 40, it is no different from explaining to a class of, say, 30 or even 20. Of course, the marking load will be different. If we do have additional te achers, the question is whether we should deploy them to do enrichment or to reduce the marking load of some teachers, for example, those with heavy marking loads, or should we reduce the class size. Basically, we are short of teachers in Singapore. For secondary schools, we even have to recruit teachers from Australia, New Zealand, UK and so forth. So our manpower resource is very short and we should be careful not to just go for small class sizes because intuitively people feel that small class sizes are useful for learning.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Sir, just now the Minister mentioned that a study was done in Singapore on class size. Would he release the result of the study to the public?

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Sir, I believe some details were released some time back. I can check on that point.

Dr Kanwaljit Soin (Nominated Member): Would the Minister please confirm that the classes for the Gifted Education Programme are small and, if they are, would he please explain the rationale, if studies are not conclusive, that small class sizes help?

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Sir, for the gifted pupils, who are really the cream of our young population, we are trying to do the best we can to improve their creative thinking, their ability to learn on their own, and so on. We are trying to stretch them to the best of their ability. So for this group of pupils, we employ more interactive methods where the pupils have to do project work, to discuss and defend their position in the class and so on. If you have that kind of a situation, then maybe you do need a smaller group to be effective. But when you are lecturing to a class of, say, 200 in the university, it is no different from lecturing to a class of 40. So we have to be careful about the scenario and what we are talking about in this situation.

Mr Chiam See Tong: The Minister has said that Singapore is short of teachers. So the reason for not reducing the class size is in fact the shortage of teachers and probably the shortage of buildings and a lack of other facilities. It is not the educational fact that teachers can in fact teach more effectively in smaller classes.

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Sir, the shortage of teachers is clearly an important consideration, but it is not the key factor. If need be, we can try and hire more teachers. The point is whether it is worthwhile putting all those resources into the education system by reducing class sizes. For example, if we were to reduce the class size from an average of 40 to an average of 30, it means that we have to increase the teaching workforce by one-third; from 20,000 to about 27,000. If we halve the class size, it means going up from 20,000 to 40,000. So it is a big question mark as to where we are going to find those teachers. But that is not the key point. The key point is that we must be sure that it is worth investing those resources. With the use of information technology, you have self-paced learning and the additional teachers could be used for enrichment. For example, in the case of RGS, which I have mentioned, it is an independent school, it has stuck to the class size of 40. It uses the additional resources for enrichment and it can use the additional teachers to lighten the loads in certain subjects like English where the marking load is high. There are other independent schools which have reduced the class sizes. Lately, they have been going back again closer to 40, because it is very costly to reduce class size, and yet the benefits are not evident.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Just now the Minister admitted that for an interactive method of teaching and creative thinking, you would probably need a smaller class size. In view of the recent MOE's policy on the teaching methods and that we should encourage creative thinking, would it be justified for the Ministry to review the class size of schools in Singapore by reducing the present class size from, say, 40 to 30?

Mr Lee Yock Suan: It is true that if you want to be more effective in teaching certain things, you need to have different arrangements. For example, in universities, you have lectures for 200, 300 or even bigger numbers, and then you break them up into smaller groups for tutorials. So when we try to inculcate creative thinking, we have to do it in various ways. For example, we have to try and structure the curriculum and the contents to emphasize on the project work, problem solving, learning for themselves through the use of computers. So it does not follow that we should therefore go for smaller class sizes. It will be a factor to be considered. But until we are convinced that there is a need, we should not go that way.

Dr Kanwaljit Soin: Would the Minister agree that RGS is not an ideal example of looking at class size because the students are very good? So would the Minister agree that in some of the neighbourhood schools, to give value added, it might be useful for the students who come from ordinary homes to have more inter-active teaching with a smaller class size?

Mr Lee Yock Suan: If we study the schools that have added value, we will find that many of them have big class sizes. They tend to be more popular. So the schools tend to try to admit more pupils. The class size per se is not an important factor. It is more a question of the teaching methods, how dedicated the teachers are, do they come back for remedial lessons and so on. By changing class size, you are going to commit a lot of manpower resources. Unless we are sure that it is worthwhile, we should not do it.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Does the Minister agree that in fact class sizes of 40 to 43 are counter-productive because the teachers in such big classes are overworked. They cannot teach effectively.

Mr Lee Yock Suan: As I have explained, Sir, it depends on the subject and it depends on the situation. When you have prepared your lecture notes and you teach a class of 40 and they are all paying attention, it does not make much difference whether you are teaching 30 or 40. Maybe you have to raise your voice a bit louder because the class room is bigger. Of course, you have to mark books. There will be more books to mark. So it varies with the subject. Certain subjects like English, yes, maybe there is a heavier marking load, and maybe more individual attention is needed. So when we do have manpower resources, we should deploy them in an optimum manner, and not just by reducing class sizes across-the-board, but maybe by having a lower work load for those subjects with a heavy marking load. So it depends on a lot of factors.