Elected officials mean well when they lobby to reduce class sizes. But the evidence doesn’t support their efforts.
Education research shows that having fewer students in a class has little influence on learning. A far more important metric is the quality of the instruction. Classrooms of 30 children with a great teacher are far better than classes of 15 with a poor teacher. Reducing class sizes is an expensive process, as governments need to employ more teachers and build more classrooms.
As Atlantic Provinces try to improve their under-performing education systems, they need to focus more on improving the skills of their teachers, rather than simply hiring more of them.