MOE to pilot smaller classes, streamlined teacher duties in six schools
The Ministry of Education (MOE) will try out smaller classes, a lighter mix of teacher duties and more flexible classrooms in six schools from January 2027. Education Minister Desmond Lee announced the pilot on 16 September at the annual Schools Work Plan Seminar, speaking to about 1,900 school leaders and teachers at Singapore Expo.
The six pilot schools are:
Primary: St Anthony's Canossian Primary School, Woodgrove Primary School and Zhangde Primary School
Secondary: Commonwealth Secondary School, Deyi Secondary School and Jurongville Secondary School
"This is a complex pilot, so we will proceed carefully," Mr Lee said. "We will keep schools updated and share what we learn, before considering how these approaches can be applied more widely." In other words, if your child isn't at one of these six schools, nothing changes in 2027.
WHAT THE PILOT WILL TRY
"Tomorrow's classrooms will be different," Mr Lee said. "Teachers will facilitate more discussions, observe how students think and collaborate, give timely feedback, and adapt teaching to their needs." The pilot tests three changes meant to make room for that kind of teaching.
Smaller classes "where needed." MOE will look at whether more students can benefit from smaller classes, and where they make the biggest difference. "With smaller classes when needed, teachers are better able to cater to individual learning needs and customise a more engaging and effective learning environment," Mr Lee said. This isn't a promise to shrink every class. MOE hasn't said how small the classes will be, or which levels and subjects will get them.
Teachers focusing on two of three duties. Outside their lessons, many teachers today handle all three of the main non-teaching roles: form teacher, co-curricular activity (CCA) teacher, and member of school committees. The pilot will study letting teachers focus on two of the three, based on each school's needs and each teacher's strengths and interests. Many teachers, Mr Lee said, "have told us that switching constantly between different responsibilities takes not just time but also mental bandwidth." He added: "With less switching between responsibilities, teachers can invest more of their bandwidth into stronger classroom practices and richer interactions with students."
Classrooms that can be rearranged. Schools will adapt existing rooms with mobile, modular furniture, so the same space works for whole-class teaching and for small-group work. MOE will also look at technology that makes it easier to move between physical and digital learning.
Separately, MOE's Teacher Workspace platform, which puts student information, tools and everyday tasks in one place, will reach all MOE schools by 2027. It has been piloted in about 20 schools so far.
DO SMALLER CLASSES ACTUALLY HELP?
Research suggests they can. How much depends on how small the classes get, who is in them, and whether the teaching changes too.
The best-known evidence comes from Project STAR in Tennessee, one of the largest education experiments ever run. From 1985, about 11,600 children from kindergarten to Grade 3 were randomly assigned to small classes of 13 to 17 pupils or regular classes of 22 to 25. Economist Alan Krueger found that pupils scored about four percentile points higher on standardised tests after their first year in a small class, and the gap grew by about one point a year after that. The gains were bigger for minority pupils and for those from low-income families.
The benefits outlasted primary school. Following the same children into adulthood, Raj Chetty and colleagues found that those assigned to small classes were 1.8 percentage points more likely to be in college at age 20, when the average was 26.4%. A separate follow-up by Susan Dynarski, Joshua Hyman and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach found that small classes raised the chance of ever attending college by 2.7 percentage points. The effect was more than twice as large for Black students, and reached 7.3 percentage points for students in the poorest third of schools. Small-class students were also more likely to finish a degree, and more likely to choose fields such as STEM, business and economics.
Older children can benefit too. In Sweden, where a national rule capped class sizes, Peter Fredriksson, Björn Öckert and Hessel Oosterbeek found that smaller classes in the last three years of primary school (ages 10 to 13) led to higher cognitive and non-cognitive test scores at 13, higher test scores at 16 and 18, and more education and higher wages at ages 27 to 42. In Israel, which caps classes at 40, Joshua Angrist and Victor Lavy found that smaller classes raised test scores for Grade 4 and 5 pupils, though not for Grade 3.
The evidence isn't all one way. When Angrist, Lavy and colleagues repeated their Israeli study with data from 2002 to 2011, they found no effect of class size at all. Evidence reviews used by schools in the UK and New Zealand rate cutting class sizes as a small gain for a high cost. They find it pays off only when classes get small enough for teachers to teach differently, which seems hard to achieve until classes fall below about 20. Small cuts, such as from 30 to 25 pupils, are unlikely to be cost-effective.
That lines up with how MOE is framing the pilot. Smaller classes "where needed" put the extra teachers with students who need more support, the group that gained the most in the STAR studies. And the redesign of lessons and teacher duties is aimed at the condition the reviews keep coming back to: teachers having the time and space to teach differently.
WHY NOT JUST MAKE EVERY CLASS SMALLER?
MOE's answer hasn't changed in years: there aren't enough teachers. In a 2024 reply to Parliament, the ministry said cutting class sizes across the board would need a much larger teaching force, would come at the expense of quality, and wouldn't be sustainable when sectors like healthcare also need workers. Mr Lee made the same point this week: "Our workforce is limited, and even if we were to hire more teachers, it must be done in a sustainable manner, without compromising quality."
There's also a catch that's easy to miss. Smaller classes don't automatically mean less work for teachers. Split a cohort into more classes and someone has to teach the extra classes. That's why MOE is testing smaller classes alongside the changes to teacher duties and more use of technology, not on their own.
Singapore has in fact added a lot of teachers relative to students. In 1981, there was one primary school teacher for every 30.1 pupils; by 2024, there was one for every 15.6. Secondary schools went from 20.6 students per teacher to 12.7 over the same period. Both ratios have edged up slightly since their lows: 14.5 in primary schools in 2020 and 2021, and 11.6 in secondary schools in 2017 and 2018.
Students per teacher, 1981–2024
Drag across the chart or use the slider to pick a year.
2024Primary 15.6Secondary 12.7
19812024
In 2024: one teacher for every 15.6 primary pupils
Teacher
Each figure is one student, rounded to the nearest whole number. Rows of 10.
Primary schools have about half as many pupils per teacher as in 1981, yet the average primary form class is still 34. The ratio counts every teacher in a school, and MOE puts the extra capacity where needs are greatest, such as small learning support groups.
Source: Ministry of Education, Pupils Per Teacher in Primary and Secondary Schools, on data.gov.sg. The ratio is all students at a level divided by all teachers in those schools; secondary figures include independent and specialised schools. See sources at the end of this post.
So why is the average primary form class still 34? Because the ratio counts every teacher in a school, not just those in front of a form class. MOE puts extra teachers where students need more support, so class sizes vary far more than the averages suggest.
How big is a class in Singapore today?
Class sizes vary far more than the averages suggest. Tap a row for details.
Students in one class
Students per teacher
010203040
Average primary form class: The average across all primary form classes. Because P1–P2 classes are capped at 30, upper-primary classes must average more than 34.
Figures published by MOE. Average form class sizes (from the 2024 Education Statistics Digest) are from an MOE explainer published in March 2025; pull-out and subject class sizes are from a parliamentary reply in April 2024; pupil-teacher ratios are MOE's 2024 figures on data.gov.sg. See sources at the end of this post.
THE WORKLOAD BEHIND THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Teacher workload has come up again and again in recent years. In October 2025, MOE told Parliament that teachers report working an average of 53 hours a week during term time, with about 14 of those hours spent teaching in class. The rest goes to lesson preparation, consultations with students, CCAs, professional development and other work.
TALIS 2024, the OECD's international survey of lower secondary teachers, found that Singapore teachers work 47 hours a week, about six hours more than the OECD average of 41. Yet they spend less of that time teaching: 18 hours a week, against about 23 across the OECD. And 27% of Singapore teachers said they experienced stress "a lot", compared with 19% across the OECD, with administrative work and marking named as the top causes. (The two sets of figures aren't directly comparable: MOE's covers all teachers during term time, while TALIS surveyed a sample of lower secondary teachers.)
The two-of-three idea is aimed at that time outside the classroom, rather than at the lessons themselves.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR FAMILIES
If your child is at one of the six schools, expect changes from January 2027. The details haven't been published yet, so the school is the best place to ask.
If your child is at any other school, nothing changes for now. MOE hasn't given a timeline for a wider rollout and has said it will share what it learns first.
For every family, "smaller classes where needed" follows the approach MOE already takes: extra teaching time goes to the students who need it most, rather than being spread evenly across every class. If your child would benefit from more one-to-one attention than a full class allows, start by asking their form teacher what support the school already offers, such as its learning support programmes. If you're also looking for help outside school, you can browse tutors and mentors on GrandMaster for one-to-one or small-group sessions.
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW YET
MOE hasn't said how small the smaller classes will be or which levels and subjects will get them, how long the pilot will run, how the six schools were picked, or when other schools might follow.
