This new study may stir controversy. Class size has always been a heated topic, and the reality is often more complex than stating whether smaller classes work or don’t work. This new study on students in Japan and China shows that smaller class sizes in schools are failing to increase the resilience of children from low-income families. This is an interesting element. We’ve seen quite a lot of studies on the learning effect of class size reduction, but the emphasis on resilience is less examined. The researchers did look at the grades, and couldn’t find a grade benefit and even suspect it could harm the study results. But… the researchers used PISA data, which means correlation, not a causal relationship. Why students are in a smaller class is a very important question. This is correct, IMHO: “This study supports the view that the quality of teachers, rather than the quantity, is the primary guarantee of students’ resilience.” And, of course, if you don’t have enough high-quality teachers, a bigger class size is probably better than smaller classes with lower-quality teachers. The question is if those high-quality teachers will want to stay in their job when there are too many children in class, e.g. So, I also think this study has more limitations than the authors mention.

Some of the results are also seemingly contradictory, e.g. the effect of how students are being taught on resilience differs from region to region.

From the press release:

Data on more than 2,700 disadvantaged secondary (high) school students shows that minimizing pupil numbers in classrooms does not lead to better grades. Reducing class sizes could even decrease the odds of children achieving the best results, say the study authors.

The quantity of teachers also does not increase the odds of pupils from the poorest backgrounds achieving academically, despite concerns over staff shortages in schools.

Instead, the researchers say that resilience is guaranteed by the quality of teachers such as those with high discipline standards and who use their expertise to improve learning.

The study authors, who looked at data from China and Japan, are now urging policymakers to invest more in high-quality teachers and not to waste resources on cutting down the number of children in each class.

“This study supports the view that the quality of teachers, rather than the quantity, is the primary guarantee of students’ resilience,” says lead author Professor Tao Jiang, of Taizhou University whose research team also included experts from his institution and other China-based universities Northwest Normal, and Southwest.

“Quality teachers who effectively used teaching methods and managed classroom discipline increased the odds that individuals became resilient students.

“On the other hand, emphasizing the reduction of class sizes in schools may not benefit resilience. Smaller classes either had no relevance to resilience or were disadvantageous for resilience.

“Excessive emphasis on reducing class sizes is unnecessary, as it is detrimental to the emergence of students with high levels of resilience. Instead of allocating financial resources to reduce class sizes, it would be more effective to invest in providing high-quality science teachers.”

Academic resilience is defined as an individual’s ability to resist adversity and do well in school. It’s not fixed, and therefore can be improved, and is linked to what happens in schools and classrooms.

The authors of this study set out to identify the qualities and characteristics of 1,594 disadvantaged science students in Japan and 1,114 in the Macau region of China. Ages ranged from 15 to 16 years approximately and class size from 15 pupils (or fewer) to more than 50.

The participants were grouped into low, medium, or high-level resilience. The researchers looked at what classroom factors, school resources and school culture increased the odds of being in the high-level group.

All students in the study had participated in the 2015 Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA), an international questionnaire-based survey. PISA measures a pupil’s ability to use their reading, mathematics, and science knowledge.

Teacher discipline and support levels were among the many issues assessed by PISA. Pupils were also scored on motivation and how anxious they became during exams.

Results showed overall that a third of students displayed high-level resilience, a quarter low, and the rest medium.

High-resilience students were very positive towards school, science, and their future careers. They also dedicated more time to learning science than others but did experience anxiety about exams.

Science teachers and their teaching methods ‘play a crucial role’ in building students’ resilience, according to the authors. The findings show that these students benefited from classroom discipline, teacher-directed instruction, inquiry-based teaching, and teacher support.

In Japan, the most robust predictor of high-level resilience was inquiry-based teaching, while in Macau, it was teacher-directed instruction.

As for the impact of class size, smaller classes either had no impact on resilience such as in Macau or had a negative effect as in Japan. Conversely, an increase in class size by just one rank raised the odds of disadvantaged pupils in Japan attaining the best rather than the lowest grades by 1.2 times.

Other findings from the study show that misbehavior in the classroom or school in general undermines resilience.

The messages from the study for teachers include the need to guide pupils to conform to rules, to maintain discipline and prepare lessons in line with the needs of students.

The study did not analyze changes in how classrooms are managed now compared with before the pandemic. On this basis, the authors suggest further studies are needed on how COVID-19 has affected teaching in the context of student resilience.

Abstract of the study:

The education system strives to help students from low-income families achieve academic success. Academic resilience is related to not only individuals but also classrooms and schools. This study aimed to construct a comprehensive resilience model in science domains that presents the image of resilient students and describes the mechanisms by which they arise. This goal was achieved through a parametric multilevel latent profile analysis with level 1 and level 2 covariates. Latent profile indicators included variables reflecting motivation, subjective well-being, and engagement in science of secondary school students. Variables related to science classroom and school contexts constituted the levels 1 and 2 covariates. We used secondary data from Japan and Macao (China) collected in the 2015 Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA). The sample sizes were 1594 and 1114, respectively. We identified three resilience levels among students. The emergence of resilient students benefited from science classroom discipline, teacher-directed instruction, inquiry-based teaching, adjusting instruction, and teacher support. In Japan, the most robust predictor was inquiry-based teaching, while in Macao, it was teacher-directed instruction. Therefore, science teachers play a crucial role in building students’ resilience. It also suggests that a small class decreases the likelihood of students entering the high-level resilience group.