Secondary School Teachers’ and Students’ Experiences in Overcrowded Classrooms

Abstract

In Pakistan overcrowded classrooms are going to be one of the major issues and considered, a factor responsible for falling the education standard. This study sets out to investigate the “Secondary school teachers’ and students’ experiences in overcrowded classrooms”. The study adopts a qualitative research approach in which a case study design was adopted. It was conducted in four public sector school (two boys and Two Girls) from Lahore. Population consisted of teachers and students. Sample was taken from those classes which were consisting of above 60 students. The data generation process was obtained through in-depth-interviews from teachers and focus group interview from students. Major findings of the study were mostly classes at secondary school level are overcrowded. Teachers and students face a lot of problems due to high number of students in one class. These problems are: inadequate classroom space, less teacher-students’ interaction, issues related to safety and health, increased workload and inadequate teaching time, disruptive behavior by students and teachers’ attitude. The conclusions of the research also show the contributing factors to stressful experiences. These factors included lack of support from management, policy implementation, unsupportive parents, teacher training, professional development and lack of resources. The findings also showed that teachers tap into, mobilize and map out individual resources in order to manage overcrowded classrooms.