Multigrade classrooms

Multigrade teaching occurs in primary education when a teacher has two teach two or more
primary school student grades in the same class. More general term and probably more accurate is
that multigrade teaching refers to the teaching of students of different ages, grades and abilities in
the same group. The multigrade class structure is known by various names in different countries;
these include "composite" or "combination" classes, "double" classes, "split" classes, "mixed-age"
classes, "vertically grouped" classes, "multiple classes", "family classes" or "multilevel classes".
In multigrade schools a relatively small number of teachers try to be effective in their educational
work while dealing simultaneously with a number of pupils of different ages, educational levels
and needs. It follows that for children to learn effectively in multigrade environments; teachers
need to be well trained, well resourced, and able to meet highly demanding teaching tasks and to
hold positive attitudes to multigrade teaching.

Multigrade classrooms ought to be taken seriously into account since such schools are
considered to play important role on providing access to education for all in remote, isolated and
underdeveloped rural areas. Such schools are more than a reality in primary education in many
regions of Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa and the rest of the world constituting a very
common educational form in problematic rural areas, sparsely inhabited regions and urban areas
with adverse social conditions. In such areas multigrade schools not only aim to give enrolment
and continuous attendance in school environments, but also to provide knowledge and pedagogy
of good standards and in addition to play a wider role in social development.

Overcrowded classroom

A classroom is said to be overcrowded in which the number of students exceeds the

optimum level such that it causes hindrance in the teaching-learning process. Researchers argue
that there is no exact definition of a large class.

Undesirable effects of overcrowdedness

● The first self-evident effect is noise “a large class is a noisy class” to use Julia Thompson’s
terms
● noise in large classes has an adverse effect on the orderly productive classroom teachers
and students want to have
● Students lose concentration and fail to understand their lessons.
● Cheating
● Testing large classes is time-consuming
● In a large class, the teacher cannot easily recognize the names and faces of his/ her students
● Not all the learners have the opportunity to speak and have immediate feedback from their
teacher since one hour is not pedagogically enough to cover 52 students in a class