英国小学班级人数居欧洲之首——国立学校平均数每班
2010-09-29 18:33阅读：
British primary classes are
biggest in Europe: State schools have average of 26 pupils per
lesson
By SARAH
HARRIS
Class sizes in British primary
schools are among the biggest in the developed world, an
international study has revealed.
Around 26 pupils make
up the average lesson – more than in the rest of Europe, the United
States and Mexico.
Out of 39 developed nations,
only eight – Brazil, China, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Japan, Turkey
and Chile – have larger state primary classes than the United
Kingdom. The average number is 21.6.
The figures, compiled by the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, also found
a large gap in average class sizes between public and private
schools in the UK, which was in contrast to many other
countries.
In OECD countries overall,
average class sizes do not differ between public and private
schools by more than around one student per class at primary level
and in the early years of secondary school.
The UK has one of the largest
gaps between the private and state sector as average class sizes in
prep schools are just 13.6.
In the early years of secondary
school, class sizes in the UK are 21.3, below the OECD average of
23.7. In private schools in the UK, average classes have 12.8
pupils. The OECD report says: ‘Smaller classes are often perceived
as allowing teachers to focus more on the needs of individual
students.’
However, Andreas Schleicher, of
the OECD, said that large primary classes in the UK help to ‘lower
costs’.He added: ‘The larger class sizes allows the UK to afford
better teacher pay and longer student learning hours, so basically
it’s quite an effective spending choice.’
Labour pledged to limit class
sizes for five to seven-year-olds to 30 in its 1997
manifesto.
Official figures released in
May showed infant class sizes were the biggest for 12 years
following a baby boom. The average class size for five to
seven-year-olds is 26.6, the largest since 1998 when it was
27.1.
Education Secretary Michael
Gove has warned that primary schools have to find room for an extra
350,000 pupils over the next four years due to a 15 per cent
increase in demand for places.
This would require hundreds of
new schools, the use of portable classrooms or an increase in sizes
at existing primaries, potentially to more than 30 children a
class.
Professor Alan Smithers, an
education researcher at Buckingham University, said: ‘Large classes
work well in countries like Korea because they have a more formal
approach to teaching.
‘Our style depends on more
direct connections between the teacher and individual child, so
these large class sizes are concerning,particularly because of all
the individual work that the teacher has to consider.’
简单地把整篇文章翻译了下：
英国小学班级人数居欧洲之首——国立学校平均数每班26人
根据一项国际研究显示：英国小学班级人数名列世界发达国家首位，平均每个班级约有26名学生组成，远远高于其他的欧洲国家，以及美国和墨西哥。
这份由经济合作与发展组织（OECD）编制的数据显示：世界上39个发达国家的 小学班级平均人数为21.6人，只有巴西、中国、印度尼西亚、以色列、韩国、日本、土耳其和智利这8个国家的的小学班级人数超过英国。
同时，这份统计也发现：英国公立学校和私立学校之间平均每班学生人数也存在着巨大差距，这与其他许多国家的情况是不同的。
OECD的数据显示：英国公立学校和私立学校的小学和中学的头几年情况大不相同。其中，英国国立学校的平均仅有13.6人。在中学的最初几年，英国每班学生人数是21.3人，低于OECD平均水平的23.7人。 在英国的私立学校，平均学生12.8人。 OECD报告说：“较小的班级规模往往能够满足老师对于个别学生的个体需要，老师将更能够关注每一个学生的成长情况。”
不过，OECD的Andreas
Schleicher说：“在英国，小学大班级有助于降低成本。”
“较大的每班学生人数，可使英国政府支付得起更优厚的教师工资，同时可以给学生提供更长的学习时间。所以这是一个相当有效的消费选项。”他补充说。
工党在其1997年的宣言中承诺，把5-7岁的孩子班级人数要限制在每班30人。
根据官方公布的数字显示，5月份的幼儿班人数是这12年婴儿潮以来最大的一次。其中5-7岁的小学班级平均规模是每班26.6人。其中，最大平均班级人数为27.1人，出现在1998年。
教育部部长Michael
Gove警告说，现在英国政府需要找到一个额外空间来容纳35万小学生。因为在未来4年中，由于每个郡市地方的小学对于学习场地的需求将增加15%。而这将需要数百所新的学校，以适应超过30人的班级的出现。例如：可移动校舍。
白金汉大学教育研究人员Alan
Smithers教授说：“像韩国那种超大班级情况做的不错。因为他们有着一个很正规的方法来教学。”
“我们的教学风格依赖于教师和个体儿童之间直接接触和交流。所以说对这些大课堂的设立受到一些担心，我们教师必须考虑的问题是教学中如何为所有的个体而服务。”
