According to the 2024 Education Statistics Digest (ESD), the average form class size for primary and secondary schools is 34 and 33 respectively. To better support younger learners, the form class size for Primary One and Two is smaller at up to 30 students.
Singapore’s Pupil-Teacher-Ratio (PTR) is about 15 students per teacher at the primary level and 12 students per teacher at secondary level, which is around the OECD average. Our healthy PTR gives teachers the space to teach as well as spend time on key activities, such as preparing for lessons, CCA involvement, and professional development.
Given our PTR, why aren’t our class sizes smaller?
PTR and class sizes are different concepts. The PTR represents the total level of teaching resources that we have, to meet students’ needs while class size represents how we organise and deploy our teachers, which may vary depending on needs.
Our PTRs are comparable to the US, UK, Germany, Korea and Japan. This gives teachers the space to teach as well as spend time on key activities, such as preparing for lessons and professional development. It is possible to reduce class sizes by increasing classroom teaching time or recruiting more teachers, both of which have significant trade-offs which need to be carefully weighed.
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Our teachers are central to the learning experience of students. To complement and augment their roles, the Ministry of Education (MOE) leverages technology and taps on AI-enabled tools to enhance teaching and learning, and streamline administrative work. For example, MOE has piloted a feature in Parents Gateway to allow parents to electronically submit their child’s documents for absence.
By leveraging educational technology as part of MOE’s “Transforming Education through Technology” Masterplan 2030, we can complement teachers’ capacities and capabilities as well as further customise our students’ learning experience and empower them to learn at their own pace anytime and anywhere.
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Let’s attempt a thought experiment. What would it take for MOE to halve class sizes from 40 to 20 students? Reducing class sizes across the board would require a significantly larger teaching force. With smaller cohorts entering the workforce each year and increasing manpower demand from other sectors, this will mean recruiting many teachers who would otherwise not have been selected. Alternatively, teachers would need to spend significantly more time teaching in the classroom. If we halved a class of 40 students to 20, teachers would need to teach twice as many classes. This would leave much less time for other important aspects such as lesson preparation, professional development, and engaging with students outside of class, whether in CCAs or other smaller group setting. |
How does MOE decide on class size?
We don’t use a one-size-fits-all approach to mandate that all schools must have the same class size. Instead, more teaching resources are deployed to students with greater needs. Schools have the flexibility to organise smaller class sizes according to their students’ needs.
While a typical form class size is around 30 to 40 students, students do not take all subjects in their form classes. They may experience a range of class sizes.
Here’s a snapshot of how schools organise students in different kinds of classes, and why.
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Students can also approach their teachers for one-on-one or small group consultations to clarify doubts and deepen their learning.
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We take pride in the holistic development of our students and the continuous professional development of our education fraternity. This approach has stood us in good stead in maintaining the quality and rigour of our education system. Various international benchmarking studies have shown that our students are moving ahead in their ability to apply their knowledge, to reason and evaluate. At the end of the day, how different students learn depends on more than just class size. Talk to your child about the different kinds of class sizes that they experience through their time in school! |
