They likened the classroom to “the land of giants.”

Teachers in Britain complain about their students' height and weight gain

Classroom design is no longer appropriate for the current generation.

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Teachers said that going to work was "like walking in the land of giants" because their students were now "taller and heavier."

The weight of 14-year-old male students has increased, from 36 kilograms, on average, in 1970, to 54 kilograms, today.

History teacher Eileen Balling told delegates at the Birmingham Teaching Union's annual conference last week that average height, too, had risen in the past 50 years from 1.47 meters to 1.72.

The teacher said that these numbers were taken from the World Health Organization website.

However, a study from the University of Cork put the average stature of a 14-year-old boy, in 1970, at 1.60 metres, and an increase of seven centimeters in 2007.

Balling said that the "physical development" of students "is exposed to risks, especially as they use very small desks and plastic chairs that are very narrow and short in back. Where do they put those feet?

They move with difficulty in class.

Why shouldn't school desks and chairs be bigger?

Because it will not accommodate 30 students per semester.

Fergal McGuckin, another teacher, told the conference that an A-level class feels like "the land of giants."

"As I'm 1.72 metres, I really feel the challenge in such classes," he added.

The teachers' comments emerged during a union vote in London to set maximum class sizes.

In 2021, a field study found that the number of students in secondary grades had increased remarkably.

Based on figures from the House of Commons, the number of secondary students in classrooms increased by more than 130,000 between 2016 and 2020, an increase of 43%.

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