Letter: Futility of learning by rote

Sir: there seems to be general agreement that a mixture of whole class and group teaching works well. However, in a typical classroom built in the 1960s, if you have a class of over 30 children, you cannot arrange modern classroom furniture in lines and fit in all the children. One of the teachers I work with tried it and we found the tables were too wide and we could not have all the children sitting facing forward. People over 50 will remember the narrow tables and attached seats that we used to fit in.

Mrs R V HOCKING

Newport, Gwent