Factors and Conditions Giving Rise To Multigrade Classes: Lesson 2

Lesson Factors and Conditions Giving Rise
2 to Multigrade Classes
“Multigrade teaching is usually implemented not by choice, but by

force of circumstances.”
(Mathot, 2001)
Let’s Zoom the Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

 write a case study on the establishment of multigrade class in a particular school
in the locality.
Let’s Face the Facts
According to Mathot (2001), most often, multigrade teaching is implemented not by

choice but by force of circumstances. The multigrade class is usually a reflection of extreme
socio-economic constraints, or a small population in the community. Most schools with
multigrade classes do not have the adequate resources they need to hire additional teachers or
build additional classrooms.
The following are factors which lead to the establishment of multigrade schools (Mathot,
2001):
1. Geographical
 The school is located in a small community in a remote area or barangay, far from
municipality or town centers.
 There might be rivers, roads, and mountains in the area that are dangerous for learners to
cross, hence, it is practical for them to attend only to the school of the community.
 Schools may be geographically isolated due to remoteness and underdevelopment of
infrastructural facilities that have resulted in the slow delivery of educational services
and assistance (Briones, 2020.)
2. Socio-economic
 Limited human and material resources, especially in far-flung, remote areas.
 There is shortage of teachers as a result of inadequate government financial resources.
Sometimes, it would be impractical to hire a teacher for each grade level when the
enrolment is lower than the government-stipulated teacher-pupil ratio.
 Dividing classes into prescribed grade levels is sometimes not possible because of
limited classrooms.
3. Cultural
 Parents sometimes do not want their children to attend a school in an area with different
culture. They fear that their children will be influenced, and they will lose some of their
values and traditions. Thus, they would prefer to send their children just within the
school in the community. This is the case of many communities in South Africa where
different tribes and cultures exist.
4. Political
 Communities in remote and isolated areas and those located close to country
boundaries are not allowed to cross the border.
 Communities under different chiefs or associated with different tribes, no matter how
small, may not have a close relationship with each other as a result of different political
affiliation. As part of the local development effort, these leaders will push to have
schools in their areas regardless of the size of the population.
Current Conditions Giving Rise to Multigrade Classes
Why do multigrade classes persist in the 21 st century? White and her colleagues (2006)
have identified eleven conditions that give rise to multigrade classes. They arise in:
1. Schools in areas of low population density where schools are widely scattered and
enrolments low. Schools may have only one or two teachers responsible for all grades.
2. Schools that comprise a cluster of classrooms spread across different locations, in
which some classes are multigrade for the same reasons as (1), and some are
monograde. Some teachers within the same ‘school’ will spend most of their time with
multigrade classes; some with monograde classes.
3. Schools in areas of where the population, students and/or teachers are declining, and
where previously there was monograde teaching.
4. Schools in areas of population growth and school expansion, where enrolments in the
expanding upper grades remain small and teacher numbers few.
5. Schools in areas where parents send their children to more popular schools within
reasonable travel distance, leading to a decline in the potential population of students
and teachers in the less popular school.
6. Schools in which the number of learners admitted to a class exceed official norms on
class size, necessitating the combination of some learners from one graded class with
learners from another grade.
7. Schools in which the general structure of classes is monograde but, where, because of
fluctuating annual admission numbers, groups of learners need to be combined.
8. Mobile schools in which one or more teacher moves with nomadic and pastoralist
learners spanning a wide range of ages and grades.
9. Schools in which teacher absenteeism is high and supplementary teacher arrangements
are non-effectual or non-existent.
10. Schools in which the official number of teachers deployed is sufficient to support
monograde teaching but where the actual number deployed is less (for a variety of
reasons).
11. Schools in which learners are organized in multigrade rather than monograde groups,
for pedagogic reasons, often as part of a more general curriculum and pedagogic
reform of the education system.

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Lesson Factors and Conditions Giving Rise

“Multigrade teaching is usually implemented not by choice, but by

Let’s Zoom the Outcomes

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Let’s Face the Facts

According to Mathot (2001), most often, multigrade teaching is implemented not by

Current Conditions Giving Rise to Multigrade Classes

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