Abstract:
This study investigated how large class size and the psychological classroom
environment influenced students‟ academic performance. Again, the
researcher sought to determine the extent to which large class size and
psychological classroom environment influenced the manner in which
teaching and learning was mediated in public senior high schools. To achieve
this, the survey design was employed. 320 students were purposively selected
from ten (10) public senior high schools in the Kumasi Metropolis.
Questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.791 was used to obtain data
from the respondents. The study revealed that large class size influenced
students‟ academic performance and also limits their learning opportunities of
students. It was again unravelled that psychological classroom environment
had a great influence on the students‟ academic performance. It has been
recommended that since small class size and good psychological classroom
environment enhance performance therefore, teachers and head teachers
should make sure they conform to the required teacher to student ratio of
1:40 by the Ghana Education Service. Teachers should create an enabling
environment for students to participate in classroom activities. Furthermore,
the study showed that students performed well in smaller class size and good
psychological classroom environment. Therefore, the Government should
employ more teachers and build more classrooms to solve the problem of large
class size in the senior high schools in Ghana.
