Size Does Matter

1001100_606954929349910_214370949_nI have a class of 32 year 6/7 boys. It’s a lot. I’m not complaining, but it’s a lot.

This week, because of an inter school cricket tournament, I had 16 of my 32 kids out of the classroom and as you would expect, it made a difference. With half the class away we suspended our usual routine and worked on negotiated projects. With less kids in the class, I was able to talk to each group about their ideas and work with them to make links to the National Curriculum.

Over the course of the day the boys worked with enthusiasm and passion for what they were doing. I was able to spend the day having learning conversations and asking questions in a way that i just can’t physically manage when the whole class is on deck. We had students exploring family history, working on Raspberry Pi projects, creating World War II re-enactments with clay animation, exploring the Gold Rush with Minecraft, designing games and investigating the differences between copper and fibre internet roll outs. It was a good day of learning.

It’s interesting (and a little scary) to hear our would be Education Minister Christopher Pyne talk so confidently about the ‘fact’ that class sizes are ‘not that important’. I can’t say that I agree. Even having a few less kids in the classroom would improve learning. It’s a simple maths equation. Less kids = more time for me to spend with every student. Pretty simple.

I’m not that unrealistic that I think I can ever work with only 16 kids, but I do have a hope that my class of 32 is not what I should expect EVERY year. With more kids in classes and less money for kids who need support, this ‘it doesn’t matter’ attitude scares me. Education can’t be all about the budget. We need to be looking at it from the needs of our kids and the need is that they have a teacher who has time to teach. I guess we will see what happens.