CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
As the school population grows, so do class numbers, and student performance becomes a problem. Class size, according to Dror (1995), has become a topic that is frequently cited in the educational literature as having an impact on students’ moods and achievement, as well as administration, quality, and school budgets. In his opinion, class size is virtually entirely a managerial choice over which instructors have little or no influence. Most investigations begin with the premise that class size will be a key driver of students’ level of performance. In reality, with the exception of a few research, many have shown that in ideal circumstances, class size appears to be a significant impact (Brian, 1996). The first point that has to be clarified is how many pupils should be considered a large group and how many should be considered a small group. Bray (1990) described a small group as having few professors with tiny pools of skill, offering a restricted variety of disciplines, and typically finding it difficult to justify significant library investments… Their students have little rivalry and interest because they have the same instructor for their whole school experience. The description seems to be the polar opposite of what happens in huge groups (Vincent, 1987). Large school/class sizes, on the other hand, are frequently impersonal, with larger curricula and more support for instructors, but children may have discipline issues since teachers cannot readily get to know their pupils.
