Education is the bedrock or foundation of all social, economic and political development of a nation. The success of a nation to a significant extent depends on the educational system and its success. This is because education cannot be an instrument par excellence for achieving national development where it is not successfully managed to attain its goals and objectives [1]. Teachers are the backbone of the entire education system. Their productivity or effectiveness is perhaps the most vital function affecting the future development of education process [2].

The establishment of schools in Nigeria has witnessed tremendous growth since independence. Likewise, enrolment has been on the increase due to national population growth and the increased demand for education which has led to overcrowding in the school system, resulting in overstretching of human and physical resources [3] Due to community and individual participation in education today, the numbers of schools have increased geometrically given the desire for knowledge [4]. The astronomical increase in schools seems to have led to congestion of schools in many states across the country [5]. Ogbondah reported that admission into schools’ gallops annually despite the decay and inadequate infrastructures in the system. 

Ayodele [6] also identified that the abolishing of the shifting system of education (i.e. morning and afternoon class session) in Nigerian schools has brought about the establishment of more schools. Despite these efforts, the congestion in schools appears not to be yet resolved as enrolment in schools is still on the increase, and this seems to have impaired effective teaching and learning. With this development, it seems as if teachers will not be, able to give their best into the discharging of their duties. For instance, it seems typical to find some teachers who do not prepare their lesson notes before teaching, some of them appear to believe that preparation of lesson notes daily is time-consuming, they, therefore, do this when it is convenient for them, and this tends to jeopardise their productivity in terms of teaching what should be taught. 

However, the observed teachers' productivity or ineffectiveness have been attributed to so many factors according to Epri [7] prominent among them are lack of motivation, insufficient funding, poor leadership, class-size, inadequate facilities, low staff morale, inadequate supervision and so forth. Still, class size appears to be the most significant problem militating against the teachers' productivity. Studies have revealed that class size is a major contributing factor to teachers' ineffectiveness in many schools. 

Nigeria has witnessed a rapid educational expansion in all spheres of the educational system without a resultant increase in the provision of needed amenities, and this has resulted into large class and school size; with its attendant problems of lack of facilities for teachers and also lack good classroom management by the teachers [8]. Yusuf, Onifade and Bello observed that teachers may find it too difficult to control students in large classes because of stydents overcrowding in these classes. Hence, teachers tend to lose the ability to attain or establish effective teaching in the overcrowded class than small class [9].

According to Khan and Iqbal [10], class size has become a phenomenon often mentioned in educational literature as an influence on teachers' productivity. In their words, they noted, that class size is almost an administrative decision over which teachers have little or no control. In fact, with the exclusion of a few, several studies have testified that under ideal circumstances, class size is a vital factor [2]. 

The concern over the growth of the school and class size as a result of students' population explosion productivity is directly linked with the possible influence of this explosion on teachers' productivity. Against this backdrop, the study explored the relationship between class size and Social Studies teachers' productivity.

Research Questions

• Does relationship exist between class size and teachers' productivity?

• Does relationship exist between class size and teachers' classroom management?

• Does relationship exist between class size and teachers' commitment to teaching?

Research Hypotheses

• There is no statistically significant relationship between class size and teachers' productivity.

•  There is no statistically significant relationship between class size and teachers' classroom management. 

• There is no statistically significant between class size and teachers' commitment to teaching.

The study adopted a descriptive research design whichcollects data from members of a population to determine the current status ofthe population. The sample for the study consisted of eighty (80) social studies teachers from ten (10) public secondary schools in Delta central senatorial district using the simple random sampling techniques to draw the sample from the population. This method was adopted to give an ample chance for every teacher to be selected for the study in Table 1.

The instrument adopted for the study was the questionnaire. The instrument was a 15 – item questionnaire. It contained two parts, A and B. Part A contained the respondents' personal data section, used to collect personal information. Part B consisted of 15 items arranged in three (3) clusters. Cluster one (A) was used to examine the opinion of teachers concerning the relationship between class size and teachers' productivity. Cluster two (B) was used to explore the views of teachers on the relationship between class size and teachers' classroom management. At the same time, cluster three (3) was used to examine the relationship between class size and teachers' commitment to teaching. The questions were constructed on a 4-point rating scale of Strongly Agreed (SA) 4, Agreed (A) 3, Disagreed (D) 2, and Strongly Disagreed (SD) 1. Data collected were analysed using frequency counts to answer the research questions, and Pearson product-moment correlation was used to test the null hypotheses.Descriptive statistics of mean to answer the three research questions. A mean rating criterion of 2.5 was used for decision rule. A mean rating of 2.5 and above was ruled agreed, while less than 2.50 was considered as disagreed. The statistical tool of the Pearson product-moment correlation was used to test the null hypotheses.

Table 1: Random Sampling for Population

Research Question 1

Does relationship exist between class size and teachers' productivity?

From the Table 2, the result shows that 56 respondents agreed that the number of students in their classroom affects their instructional delivery. However, 24 of the respondents disagreed with this position. In contrast, 74 of the respondents agreed that inadequate seat for students and poor seating arrangement affect effective teaching; 6 of the respondents reacted on the contrary. In the same vein, 68 of the respondents affirmed that effective use of teaching aids is more visible in small class than large class while 12 objected to this position. Also, it can be deduced from the table that 74 of the respondents agreed that students participate more in small class than big class during teaching, while 8 respondents did not. To item 5, 48 of the respondents found it difficult to measure students’ level of comprehension in large class than small class while 32 did not. While 62 of the respondents agreed that effective class management is easily achievable in small class size than large class size, on the contrary, 18 of the respondents disagreed with this position. 

Table 2: Relationship between Class Size and Teachers' Productivity.

Research Question 2

Does relationship exist between class size and teachers' classroom management?

Table 3 shows that 62 of the respondents agreed that lack of conducive environment hinders effective classroom management, while 18 disagreed with this position. As many as 59 agreed that abnormal class-size affects classroom management while 21 disagreed with the notion. Also, 71 agreed that poor classroom accommodation has adverse effects on classroom management, while 9 disagreed. 60 of the respondents agreed that inadequate seating facilities affect classroom Management; 20 of the respondents disagreed with this position.

Table 3: Relationship between Class Size and Teachers' Classroom Management.

Research Question 3

Does relationship exist between class size and teachers' commitment to teaching?

In Table 4, the result showed that 62 of the respondents agreed that class size affects teachers' commitment to teaching. However, 18 of the respondents disagreed with this position, while 59 of the respondents agreed that abnormal class-size affects teachers' commitment to teaching; 21 of the respondents reacted on the contrary. In the same vein, 71 of the respondents affirmed that lack of classroom accommodation has adverse effects on teacher's commitment to teaching, while 9 objected to this position. From the table, it is also observed that 60 of the respondents agreed that large class size affects a teacher's commitment to teaching, while 20 did not. To item 15, 58 of the respondents affirmed that teachers are less committed to teaching in large classes than in small classes, while 22 did not. 

Table 4: Relationship between Class Size and Teachers' Commitment to Teaching.

Hypothesis 1 

There is no statistically significant relationship between class size and teachers' productivity.

The result in Table 5 shows the relationship between class size and teachers' Productivity. From the table, it is observed that r-calculated of 0.586 is greater than the r-table of 0.195 at 0.05 level of significance. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. This then implies that there is a statistically significant relationship between class size and teachers' productivity. In which class size and teacher’s productivity is 80.

Table 5: Test of relationship between class size and teachers' productivity.

Hypothesis 2 

There is no statistically significant relationship between class size and teachers' classroom management. 

The result in Table 6 shows the relationship between class size and teachers' classroom management. It could be understood from the table that r-calculated of 0.732 is greater than the r-table of 0.0.003 at 0.05 level of significance. Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected. This then implies that there is a statistically significant relationship between class size and teachers' classroom management.

Table 6: Test of relationship between class size and teachers' classroom management.

Hypothesis 3 

There is no statistically significant between class size and teachers' commitment to teaching.

The result in Table 7 shows the relationship between class size and teachers' commitment to teaching. It could be detected from the table that r-calculated of 0. 224 is greater than the r-table of 0.002 at 0.05 level of significance. Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected. This then implies that there is a statistically significant between class size and teachers' commitment to teaching.

Table 7: Test of relationship between class size and teachers' classroom management.

Hypothesis one states that there is no statistically significant relationship between class size and teachers' commitment to teaching. It was found, from the result of data analysis, that there is a statistically significant relationship between class size and teachers' productivity. This may not be unconnected with large class size which teachers have to grapple with in the course of performing their duties. This finding is in line with Olonisakin [12], Raheem [13], Ajayi and Adeosun [2], Ayodele, Oyebanji and Oyeniyi's [3,6] work which says that teachers' productivity is a function of the school population, principal leadership style, funding, quality educational facilities, teaching and learning environment among others. Hypothesis two states that there is no statistically significant relationship between class size and teachers' classroom management. The result obtained from data analysis revealed that there is a statistically significant relationship between class size and teachers' classroom management. This is in line with Ofoegu [15], Ogundipe [16], Asiyai [2] and Nwachukwu [17] who emphasised that despite the prominent leading roles teachers play in the classroom management towards attaining educational objectives, teachers work environment in terms of class size remained a serious problem, a teacher at times, had to work with large class size which affects smooth and efficient classroom management. Entries into secondary schools are still on the increase, and this development has impaired effective classroom management in the system due to a large number of students in various classes in our which teachers have to cope with. Hypothesis three states that there is no statistically significant statistical relationship between class size and teachers' commitment to teaching. The r-test statistics revealed that there is a statistically significant relationship between class size and teachers' commitment to teaching. This implies that class size de-motivate teachers towards commitment to teaching. This is in agreement with that Adegun [11], Olonisakin [12], Raheem [13], Ayodele, Oyebanji and Oyeniyi's [14] who reported that overcrowding in the public schools has cumulated to overstretching of human and physical resources on the ground and hence, the reason for hindering teachers' commitment to teaching. Large class size result to teachers have less concern for productivity, effective classroom management and consequently

Lack of commitment to teaching.

This study has revealed that class size is a major contributory factor to teacher productivity that is prevalent among secondary schools, and the impact of large class size on teachers' productivity was unfavourable. Also, the relationship between class size and teachers' productivity was highly significant. The study also discovered that a relationship exists between class size and teachers' classroom management. The teachers were unanimous in their views or perceptions that class size affects teachers' classroom management. The study also established that there is a significant relationship between class size and teachers' commitment to teaching.

Recommendations

• Steps and actions should be taken by the government and all stakeholders in education to prune down the number of students in schools to manageable sizes so that effectiveness can easily be achieved

• There should be financial support to secondary y education to ensure adequate funding of the system to boost the provision of infrastructures such as buildings, furniture and fittings and even human resources that would match the explosive students' population in our secondary schools

• The government and other education stakeholders should pay adequate attention to the conduciveness of teachers work environment that would enhance better classroom management

• Adequate classroom should be provided with a suitable learning environment

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