Multigrade classrooms, in which teachers instruct several curriculum grades at the same time, are common in rural areas worldwide. How widespread is multigrade teaching in Nepal? What difficulties do multigrade teachers face? Research by the Institute of Education at the University of London argues that Nepal’s multigrade teachers are currently neglected and need recognition and appropriate support.

Monograde classes are the norm in many countries including Nepal and the needs of multigrade teachers are not recognised. Multigrade teaching in Nepal is caused by lack of teachers rather than lack of space. In some areas, multigrade teaching takes place in as many as 94 percent of schools. It is difficult to compare the impact of multigrade and monograde schools as most primary schools are multigraded to an extent.

The report focuses on three schools in the Nuwakot district of Nepal. Each school has five grades but lacks sufficient teachers, although each possesses sufficient classrooms. Consequently teachers teach more than one grade at a time, each in a separate classroom. The three schools use different methods to manage multigrade teaching, the most significant being how students’ time is spent during the teacher’s absence from the classroom. As there are insufficient teachers, time without teacher supervision is inevitable.

In the first school, each grade is taught as it would be in a monograde situation. When teachers are with that class it has their entire attention but when they are absent, students are not provided with self-study tasks. A significant proportion of students’ time is therefore wasted. In the other two schools teachers show an awareness of responsibility for multigrades. In one, teachers visit different classroom several times during one period. In the other, teachers teach two different grades in subsequent periods and in the teachers’ absence students are given self-study tasks based on the lesson-time spent with the teacher.

The study found that:

• Conducting multigrade teaching under monograde policies is difficult, especially for untrained, unsupported teachers and makes efficient class-management difficult.
• Half the teachers have received some training in multigrade teaching.
• All three schools believe monograde teaching to be the professional and pedagogical ideal and try to adapt their own situation to this ideal.
• The monograde ideal dominates school organisation. Separate classrooms are constructed for monograde teaching, the curriculum has no arrangements for the multigrade environment and textbooks are designed to suit monograde teaching.
• Different grades are brought together only for non-curriculum activities.

Many teachers are caught in the gap between the expected norm of monograde teaching and the reality of the multigrade environment.

Considerations for policymakers include:

• recognising and supporting teachers who currently have to address the issue of multigrade teaching on their own
• providing multigrade teachers with appropriate training and resources to make classroom activities more effective and to foster positive attitudes towards multigrade teaching.

Source(s):
‘Multigrade teaching: does it exist in Nepal?’, Journal of Education and Development, p91-103, by T. Suzuki, Research Centre for Educational Innovation and Development, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, 2000

Funded by: Japan International Co-operation Agency

id21 Research Highlight: 22 July 2002

Further Information:
Takako Suzuki
Institute of Education
University of London
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H OAL
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7612 6000
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7612 6126
Contact the contributor: s1suzukita@hotmail.com

Institute of Education, University of London, UK

Other related links:
'Multi-grade teaching: facing the hidden reality of education's have-nots'

More about the Institute of Education's Multigrade Teaching Project

The World Bank's Effective Schools and Teachers resource centre