Oguejiofor, Chidumebi and Obiakor, Mariagoretti Ijeoma 1 AN EVALUATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLASSROOM SIZE AND SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between classroom size and secondary school students’ academic achievement. The specific objectives studied include the following: To establish whether there is some kind of mechanism which can assist in establishing what determines a large, small or even optimum class size which strikes a balance between size and achievement. The research design used in this study is the survey research design. The design of the study was carefully carried out to suit the purpose of the research project using primary source of data. The population of this study consists of teachers in public secondary schools in Enugu North Local Government Area. The population, according to the census figure released by the Post Primary School Management Board (PPSMB) in 2015 is given as, nine (9) secondary schools in Enugu north LGA, seven hundred and sixty one (761) teachers. (PPSMB 2015). Data treatment method was by use of tables. Based on the findings of this study, this study concludes that class size has significant impact on the appropriateness of teachers’ instructional strategies. With respect to the psychological impact of class size on students’ performance, it was revealed that students’ feel shy to speak in large class size and also find it really hard to express themselves in a large class; also, the atmosphere becomes noisy and stressful, thereby breeding the opportunity to miss lessons without the notice of the teacher in large class size. There is therefore enough reason to agree that large class size has psychological impacts on students’ academic performance. The study recommends that; that where the class size cannot be reduced in a given time due to challenges beyond the control of the school authorities, it is recommended that teachers and management of the school should employ rotational students’ group formation and study. Introduction As the world population continues to increase, the class sizes are also affected. Class size is often mentioned by experts in the educational literature as having effect on student's feelings and performance, quality of school budgets and on administration as well (Owoeye and Yara, 2011). It is considered as one of the important determinants of academic performance over which teachers in schools have little or no control. Class size may be defined as the number of students per teacher in a given class or the population of a class (Ajayi et al., 2017). Mokobia and Okoye (2011) explained that educators universally have identified class size as important and desirable attribute of effective educational system. Consequently, debate has continued in the educational literature stakeholders such as academics, policy makers and parents over the educational consequences of class size. Some researchers have maintained that class size is a tool which can be adopted in measuring performance of educational system (Kedney2013). According to Imoke (2006) optimum class size implies rational coordination of educational infrastructures, subject to available number of students in order to attain high level of productivity. In Nigeria