The effects of class size on instructional management in Tanzanian public secondary schools

The study investigates the effects of class size on classroom instructional management in Tanzania’s public secondary schools. The objectives were to investigate management and interactions in teaching and learning process; to establish the nature of classroom organization and arrangement of classes; and to assess the general students’ discipline during the classroom instruction. The study utilized a qualitative approach with a case study design. Data were collected through interviews, documentary review, observations, photograph interpretation and focused group discussions. Purposeful sampling was employed to draw a sample of 60 respondents comprising of four headmasters, sixteen teachers and forty students. Qualitative data were subjected to content analysis and some data were presented in both numerical and word forms. The findings indicate that large class size in public secondary school has impacted negatively on the whole process of teaching and learning as teachers were unable to manage the class effectively, hence lack of attention, disruptions, poor participation of student in classroom activities. Some teachers were not responsible in managing those classes, relying more on one approach of controlling the classes, corporal punishment. Moreover, the study established that many classes were poorly organised and arranged. There were cheating among the students, lack of space with no room for the teachers to supervise students’ work. The overcrowded atmosphere made interaction difficult and a lot time was spent on disciplinary issues. Also, teachers relied on one teaching methodology, lecturing. The study recommends that, the President’s Office-Regional Administration and Local Government [PO-RALG] construct classrooms and or new schools and employ a reasonable number of teachers taking into account the issues of equity. The Ministry of Education Science and Technology [MoEST] strives to ensure reliable Student-Teacher Ratio [STR] in classrooms i.e 1:40 country wide. The Municipal Educational Officers [MEOs] ensure the resources needed for teaching and learning are distributed and used by both teachers and students. Furthermore schools’ management need to encourage and assist teachers to overcome challenges paused by large class size through use of action research to empower them to effectively handle the extra large classes. The study recommended that, there should be a study to be done to investigate factors lead to poor discipline in large classes. Also the same topic could be carried out in another area since my carried out in another area since my study based in Ilala Municipal Council, in Dar es Salaam.