Description:
In Rethinking Class Size, the world's leading researchers into class size effects counter the dominant view that class size has no impact on pupil outcomes. Peter Blatchford and Anthony Russell reveal the influence of class size on all relationships and interactions in the classroom. They develop a new social pedagogical model of how class size influences work, and identify policy conclusions and implications for teachers and schools. The book is an invaluable contribution to the international debate on class sizes.
Brief description: Peter Blatchford is professor in psychology and education at the UCL Institute of Education.
Review Quotes:
'I find the book both refreshing and rewarding. I would recommend the Introduction to anyone who wishes to read a concise discussion of the topic both in the UK and internationally. The subsequent text extends and deepens the discussion, examining the major research projects that the writers undertook and mines them for answers to the conundrums they are examining. Chapter 4 is a key chapter because it investigates in detail the effect of class size on teaching. Yet, there is far more to this book since the discussion extends to peer relations in Chapter 6, the curriculum in Chapter 7, classroom processes and administration and ends with a concluding examination of the implications for practice and policy. This final discussion seems to me not only to be genuinely the summation of a vast amount of research but also extremely good sense. The book is extremely well written and the style of writing is accessible as well as being scholarly. Anyone involved in education should find this an interesting text and for those with a special in interest in class size, such as researchers or post-graduate students working on the topic, it will be a key text. Indeed, I would say that this is an important book in the field of Education since it makes a very significant contribution to an ongoing debate and I recommend it highly.'
Education 3-13, Mark Brundrett, Emeritus Professor of Education, Liverpool John Moores University, UK