Abstract
Class size, within or intra-class grouping, and pupil-teacher ratio have drawn a great deal of interest in terms of educational policy. Educational researchers outside of Japan have directed their attention to these issues, and their accumulated findings have been incorporated into policy implementation. However, few Japanese educational psychologists have studied these topics. The present review article contends that class size, intra-class grouping, and pupil-teacher ratio should be addressed by educational psychology, because this field deals with students’ learning behavior and individual differences. In that context, the present article surveys the development of policies in Japan on the reduction of class size, summarizes trends in research examining the impact of these issues on pupils, and suggests that research findings on class size outside of Japan have a remote applicability to Japanese educational policy in terms of characteristics of classrooms in Japanese schools. The discussion also proposes educational psychology research agendas that might result in findings conducive to a discussion of policy related to appropriate class size.
