Teacher quality more important than class sizes: Chan

Singapore's focus is to maximise teachers' capabilities, capacities: Education Minister

- Elisha Tushara

The quality of teachers is a greater determinant of educational outcomes than class size, said Education Minister Chan Chun Sing.

Though some suggest that hiring more teachers would reduce class sizes, that does not guarantee good teacher quality, he said in an interview with The Straits Times.

Said Mr Chan: "Can you double the number of teachers and still maintain the quality?"

The number of teachers in the fraternity has declined over the years due to a slowdown in recruitment, from 33,378 in 2016 to 30,396 in 2023. The Ministry of Education (MOE) has not released the figure for 2024.

But Mr Chan said the teacher to student ratio —the total number of teachers against student enrolment numbers —has improved, partly due to smaller student cohort sizes.

The teacher to student ratio in primary schools decreased from 16.5 in 2014 to 15.2 in 2023.

In secondary schools, the ratio has remained stable, at 12.6 in 2023, which is comparable to 12.5 in 2014.