Influence of Large Class Size on the Effective Teaching and Learning of Chemistry in Secondary Schools in Onitsha North Local Government Area of Anambra State

The study investigated the influence of large class size on the effective teaching and learning of Chemistry in secondary schools in Onitsha North Local Government Area, Anambra state. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. Four research questions guided the study. The population of the study comprised two thousand six hundred and five (2,605) secondary schools two (SS II) Chemistry students and Sixty seven (67) Chemistry teachers. Simple random sampling technique was used. One hundred and eighty (180) senior secondary two (SS 2) Chemistry students and twenty (20) Chemistry teachers were sampled and used for the study. The instrument for data collection was structured questionnaire developed by the researchers. Also, the instrument was validated by three experts and the reliability of the instrument was obtained using Cronbach alpha reliability which gave a reliability index of 0.85. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions. The findings of the study revealed the followings: It was revealed that large class size negatively influence the teaching of Chemistry in secondary school. It was revealed that large class size negatively influence the learning of Chemistry in secondary school. It was revealed that large class size have ineffective classroom interaction during Chemistry lesson. It was revealed that teachers do not provide optimum support for students in large class size during Chemistry lesson. Based on the findings and conclusions, it was recommended among others that the policy makers and government should ensure that more classrooms are built and number of students in a class should not be more than 40. The Parent Teacher Association (PTA), School Based Management Board (SBMB), philanthropist and other charitable organizations are also implored to compliment the effort of the government to boost the performance of students by building more class rooms and buildings. Teacher should employ variety of teaching methods that would be beneficial to all students irrespective of the size of the class.