Class size and learner outcomes in South African schools: The role of school socioeconomic status

Timothy Köhler ()

Development Southern Africa, 2022, vol. 39, issue 2, 126-150

Abstract: Class size reduction is frequently argued to be a cost-effective way to improve learner outcomes. In the South African context, most studies conclude that greater class sizes are associated with poorer educational outcomes on average. However, given the country’s bimodal education system, it is plausible to believe that such a relationship may depend on where learners find themselves in the system. This paper merges newly available data from the 2017/18 School Monitoring Survey with external administrative data to investigate whether the relationship between class size and learner outcomes varies by school socioeconomic status. Although extreme class sizes are concentrated in poorer schools, class size is only negatively associated with learner outcomes in wealthier schools. This finding is robust to several robustness tests. This does not imply that class size does not matter. Rather, reductions may only be effective in the South African context once other school quality-related factors are addressed.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1080/0376835X.2020.1845614

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