Class size

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Class size (also: class frequency or class strength ) is a term from the school system that is not uniformly defined. This is u. a. This can be attributed to the fact that in Germany and Austria the prescribed organizational form class is not clearly defined: the term class can on the one hand be related to the group of pupils, but on the other hand, colloquially, to the room in which the group of pupils learns (more precisely: classroom ).

A school class is a group of students with an almost fixed number of students who exist permanently to learn under supervision. Teaching organizations such as those in the reformed upper level or in the comprehensive school (team small group model) are not included here. Class size is the number of students in a group of students who are grouped together for a longer period of time and who learn under supervision.

The class divider is the limit value for class size that applies to a specific school or school type. If this is exceeded - if possible and desired - the class will be split up (another class train opened) or otherwise the surplus students will be rejected for reasons of capacity.

The term "class train" had an additional meaning in Austria until 1986. Allowed the number of pupils of Austrian secondary schools namely a two-stream management, the students were depending on performance in the "first or 2nd class move ”. Colloquially these were "A-Zug" and "B-Zug" due to the designation of the parallel classes in two-class schools with a and b , but the association with the quality categories A and B was always obvious. The “new secondary school” in Austria then brought an internal differentiation into two class trains instead of “ streaming” with three ability groups each in the subjects German, English and mathematics.

While there were 22 students per teacher in German primary schools in 1997, there were an average of 17 in 2010 and only 16 in 2015. On a global average, there are just under 24 students per primary school teacher, in Europe and Central Asia there are 18 and in North America 15 Norway down (1: 9), worst the Central African Republic (1:80). These numbers say nothing about how many hours students spend in school and whether they study enough there.

Individual evidence

  1. Marlene Lentner, The Secondary School and School Autonomy, ( Memento of the original from July 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.4 MB) Diploma thesis, Univ. Linz 2008, p. 27. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ibe.co.at
  2. The primary school classes are getting smaller . In: DER SPIEGEL . ( spiegel.de [accessed on May 19, 2018]).

literature

Web links

Wikibooks: class size - yesterday and today  - learning and teaching materials