PERCEIVED EFFECTS OF CLASS SIZE ON STUDENTS’ PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BAMENDA

Abstract

This study was carried out on the “Perceived effects of class size on student’s psychological wellbeing in the University of Bamenda”. The study soughts to examine the perceived impact of large class size on students’ Psychological wellbeing; to examine the extent to which perceived impact of small class size influence student psychological wellbeing. The survey research design was used and the sample size was made up of 354 students who were from a college, school and faculty in the University of Bamenda. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire. The data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 23.0) with the aid of descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistical tools used were frequency count and percentages. The Spearman’s rho test was used in testing the hypotheses of the study. Findings indicated that: there was a significant and negative relationship between large class size and the students’ psychological wellbeing (P=0.021, <0.05). Finding equally revealed that there was a significant and positive relationship between small class size and the students’ psychological wellbeing (P=0.009, <0.05). It was recommended that the government should alongside recruiting more teachers, build more classes to reduce large and overcrowded classrooms so as to make the student to learn in a supportive and comfortable learning environment.