There are 70 minutes, 1 teacher, 40 students, and last but not least, budget cuts. Canada isn’t any different when it comes to big classrooms.
Here’s a scenario. Let’s say that the teacher spends approximately 10 minutes with each student. Sometimes the duration is shorter but I have concluded that 8 minutes is the average. From the given time period which is 70 minutes, about 10 minutes are used up for introductions so there are 60 minutes remaining for one on one help.
After you’ve done the simple math, you’ll see how many students have received personal help from the teacher in a given time period of 70 minutes. It’s unbelievable. Out of 40 students, only 7 or 8 students have received help. That is equivalent to around 20% of the class meaning that 80% of the class has been left out. These numbers haven’t been made up to antagonize the public schooling system and instead, are from my English classes.
Let’s face reality. Most teachers aren’t the issue. To be honest, the teachers that I’ve met aren’t bad at teaching and I’ve learnt that they’re hardworking and dedicated teachers. So when they’re with a student, they’re inclined to stay with them for a longer period of time so all questions are answered. I believe teaching should stay this way but when an issue is present, teachers need to make unwanted sacrifices.
Recently, I’ve talked to some fellow American students in New Jersey and they thought that 25 students was a large classroom. After hearing what I’ve went through, some of them were shocked. Of course I was talking to the privileged kids in New Jersey because some other states weren’t doing so well at the moment and it continues to stay the same.
Hopefully, Premier Notley’s residency will help relieve some of the budget cuts that Jim Prentice was acting upon if he stayed in his seat. However, it’s still not enough.
My little introduction to the classroom size might be over but let’s not forget the numbers. Let’s not even call them numbers because these are students’ lives at stake. These are students that want to learn but are discouraged when they’ve noticed that the teacher hasn’t even made it across the classroom.
What is your opinion on this subject? Are you experiencing oversized classroom problems? Please let me know in the comments.
Adolescentia 
Yup I’m experiencing oversized classroom problem 50 students in class no space to move sometimes no light and temperature is 35-40°C even more feel suffocate everyday sitting there…😥
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That’s tough, sorry to hear that. Even worse if the infrastructure is unsuitable. All classrooms have limits and I’m wondering if there are any changes being made.
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Wow, that is a large class size. It can be difficult for teachers, even with small class sizes to tailor a lesson to suit different abilities but with such large class sizes, even more challenging. And for the students, very frustrating. I would imagine the quieter ones suffer a lot as they might be forgotten/unheard? Class sizes over here can vary from 12/15 to 35ish.
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Yes, the quieter students are sometimes unheard but teachers do a good job visiting and checking on those few. The teacher seem to be missing/paying less attention to those who are good so their questions are often left unanswered.
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Absolutely No…. I don’t know why people have craze for this school…..
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Everyone looks for different things in a school and it happens almost everywhere.
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Ha. I was going through your posts. Amazing blog👍
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And this is why I opted to avoid the Canadian education system. At one point I wanted to become an elementary school teacher but I would hate not being able to get to know and help each student as they needed. This is a huge problem and I don’t see it getting fixed anytime soon.
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I believe that wages aren’t any better in the states. But it’s unfortunate that the system is a turnoff for new teachers.
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I can’t even imagine 40 students. I worked in a kindergarten class last year with 22 students and that was overwhelming a lot of the time.
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It must be different working with younger children. it’s not much different with hyper teenagers.
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I was a French student in a small elementary school, where we had maybe 5 or 6 students in each grade (though the English classrooms were packed!). The school had to split classrooms, and the year after I graduated, I found out they had a 5-6-7-8 split under one teacher.
How are they supposed to give lessons when 8th graders are learning much more detailed and complex things than 5th graders? I was blown away. Still a small class size, but so much variety in intelligence and level!
I’m even more perplexed by university class sizes, coming from a small elementary and high school. Classes from 150 students to 400 is a bit ridiculous. Glad I’m not at a bigger university where they have upwards of 1000 students in first year classes!
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That’s so interesting. It’s kind of how my parents grew up when they were in Korea. At the end of the day, teachers are pretty amazing. I still have some years left before University so I should enjoy what I have at the moment. Thank you for sharing 🙂
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