Class sizes matter as teaching workload changes, say Singapore teachers

Even the best teachers struggle with large classes, a sentiment echoed by primary and secondary school teachers The Sunday Times spoke to.

- Elisha Tushara

With Singapore's plans to hire more than 1,000 teachers annually over the next few years, teachers say they hope the added manpower will eventually result in smaller class sizes.

Average class sizes grew slightly from 2023 to 2024, based on the latest figures. In primary schools, the average class size rose from 33.6 to 33.8. In secondary schools, it increased from 32.6 to 32.9, and in junior colleges, from 23.1 to 23.2.

The pupil-to-teacher ratio in primary schools was 15.6 in 2024, up from 14.5 in 2020. In secondary schools, the student-to-teacher ratio increased from 11.9 to 12.7 over the same period.

The number of teachers fell from 30,396 in 2023 to 29,605 in 2024, even as the student cohort continued to shrink. Primary 1 enrolment, for example, dropped from 39,372 to 37,785 over the same period.

Six teachers, who spoke to ST on the condition of anonymity, weighed in on a recent discussion on class sizes after a social media post by a former teacher was widely shared online in November.

Ms Jo Ann Kuek, a secondary school teacher for seven years, shared her views on teacher workloads and the challenges of managing large class sizes after the topic was raised in Parliament in November.

In her Instagram post, she said that at any point in time, she typically taught between four and seven classes, each with up to 43 students.

"I can say unequivocally that class size matters," she wrote, adding that the research which the Ministry of Education (MOE) cites to defend its stance on maintaining class sizes does not reflect local classroom realities.

With teacher workloads comprising teaching, lesson preparation as well as extracurricular and holistic development tasks, marking hundreds of scripts from large classes "is not sustainable", she said.

Ms Kuek declined to comment further when ST contacted her.