Why smaller class sizes are not always the answer | Letter

2026-02-16 - 17:05

Retired headteacher Andrew Marsh says good teachers and a positive culture are more important than the number of pupils in a class As a recently retired head of a small school, I feel compelled to respond to your editorial and letters on class sizes (9 February). As your editorial states, we need to be careful not to view smaller classes as a solution to all the problems with education. During my tenure, we suffered because of the perception that larger classes were inherently worse for children. As our school grew in popularity, we experienced families moving away in search of smaller classes, which placed significant demands on our budget. Those parents did not grasp that the quality of teaching is infinitely more important than class size. If you have good teachers and a positive culture, it is possible to have high-quality interactions that support all children in a class of 30. Continue reading...