Edun Valdman EM202 Module 2

One aspect that has continuously come up in context of global education is class size in relation
to student-teacher ratio. Numerous times it has come to my attention that classes are filled
with 30 or more students and only one teacher. This is major concern for schools in the global
south such as South Africa. The student to teacher ratio is a pressing issue due to the fact that
each student will have a different style of learning, and a different rate in which they learn.
When students are put into a large class it is very difficult for each student to be cared for when
they are struggling. For the teacher, it becomes difficult to cater to all the student’s individual
needs. Schools in the global north such as Finland maintain a ratio of 20 students or fewer to
one teacher. In this setting, each educator has an easier time spreading their efforts across all
the students to allow for more individual success.

Although there is a large difference in the student-teacher ratio between South Africa and
Finish classrooms they still share some similarities with teaching and learning approaches. Both
systems still focus on similar style of lecture approach. The educator will stand at the front of
the class and speak to a room of students allowing for some questions throughout the lesson.
The teacher is still the driving force behind the content that is being given to the students and
does not include a substantial amount of peer-to-peer teaching. The difference in the ration
results in a drastic difference in the ability for student to be engaged in class. With a smaller
classroom size such as that in Finland it allows for students to continuously participate, such as
simply writing an answer on the chalkboard, or reading a passage in front of the class. The
system in Finland proves to be more beneficial as it keeps students more engaged as at any
moment they can be called upon to solve a problem.

The two contexts are similar in the sense that most of the classrooms are only provided with
one teacher contributing to their similarities of education. It is a very difficult process to create
a lesson plan, especially one that engages all the student’s individual needs. As classroom sizes
increase, it becomes harder for students to learn and teachers to teach. This is a problem for
both contexts as classrooms sizes can always be fluctuating. One major contributing difference
is the class time allocated to the size. Schools in South Africa are usually allotted approximately
a 50-minute time slot, while most classes in Finland have now transitioned to a 90-minute class.
A longer time slot allows the teacher much more time to provide feedback and individual
teaching to students in need of extra assistance.

We can learn a lot between the comparison of the South Africa education system and the Finish
Education system. Obviously one major aspect is that more teacher should be further trained
to be able to educate such large classrooms. If that is not a possibility at a certain ratio of
students to teachers an assistant should be able to be brought into the classroom. It is always a
difficult process to find teachers to be able to teach in the global south, but there are programs
in place that make it possible for international teachers to teach in these setting. I believe this is
one solution to this specific major problem.