The learning environment is the setting and conditions in which learning takes place and influences student engagement and success. While important aspects of the learning environment are determined at school level, others are determined at central level.
Evaluation in education can cover a wide range of issues and use different tools to assess the quality and effectiveness of education systems. Countries use a combination of student examinations and assessments, school inspections, school self-evaluations and reports on schools' compliance with regional or national rules and regulations to assess the quality of education. Standardised tests and assessments play an important role, as they are one of the few instruments that directly measure learning outcomes.
Smaller classes are often seen as beneficial, as they allow teachers to focus more on the needs of individual students and reduce the amount of class time needed to deal with disruptions. However, while there is some evidence that smaller classes may benefit certain groups of students, such as those from disadvantaged backgrounds, the overall evidence on the effect of class size on student achievement is mixed.
When investing in education, policy makers face important trade-offs. They may increase the instruction time for students, reduce the teaching time of teachers or reduce class size. All of these factors have a major impact on the number of teachers needed and thus on the cost of teacher salaries, which is the main cost factor in education.
