Changing Situation and Problems of Class Organization(Classroom-Management at the Turning Point)

Abstract

Recently the situation of primary school class organization has been changing dramatically. Regulations on class size and teacher assignment are going to be revised and the discretion of schools is going to be expanded. The population of teacher is unbalanced in respect of age groups and the average age of primary school teachers has been rising. As "Gakkyu Hokai" phenomenon indicates the trust of children and their parents to the school has been declining. All these changes request the reform of class organization and teacher assignment. Recent studies reveal some facts of primary school class organization. For example primary school teachers pay more attention to the discipline than the achievement of students when they organize classes. Elderly teachers are busier than younger teachers and face difficulties in the classroom management. The decrease of population of children does not necessarily lead to the reduction of class size. In some cases the class size is even expanded because of the reduction of the number of the classes or the integration of schools. In the last part of this paper I pointed out some administrative strategies for the reform of class organization. First, at each school level teaching and learning organizations should be more flexible in order to improve the effectiveness of teaching. Second, in relation to the imbalance of teacher population more younger teachers should be introduced as part-timers or volunteers. Third, at the government level system of class organization and teacher assignment should be more flexible, and the standard of class size and the standard of teacher assignment should be separated.