College class sizes are growing. Are you ready for the post-16 population surge?

The 16–18 surge: what now?

As highlighted in a recent editorial by James Farr in FE WEEK:

“Manchester was possibly the first area to sound the post-16 education alarm bell with the Department for Education in 2022. As the city’s renaissance continues apace it has seen its 16–18 population rise by a third in the last two decades.”

While Manchester leads the way, it’s part of a broader trend seen across many UK regions. Within this challenge lies an opportunity, a chance to work smarter, not harder. In this blog article, we highlight three ways a digital teaching platform like LessonUp can help meet the challenge of larger classes.

🧠 Keep every student active, even in packed classrooms

As class sizes grow, it becomes harder to make sure every student is seen, heard, and learning. With LessonUp’s interactive features, you can:

• Use mind maps to activate prior knowledge and hear every voice, anonymously if needed.
• Ask open questions and polls that allow every student to contribute without fear of being wrong.
• Give quieter students a safe way to participate without speaking up: “I am interested in what YOU think, know, remember, feel, in your very own words.”
• Set some pre-learning tasks before class: you can monitor whether students have completed them, then use lesson time to reinforce knowledge and skills. This flipped learning approach lets you prepare group work or activities in advance, saving valuable lesson time.

The features are not just engaging. They are democratic. Every student gets a chance to contribute, even in a class of 30 or more.

📊 Track student progress at a glance

In fast-growing colleges, formative assessment cannot wait until the end of the term. LessonUp saves every student response automatically, offering:

• Live insights into who is participating and who is not
• Instant feedback, reducing your marking load and overall teacher workload
• Detailed reports that show progress and reveal learning gaps

This means you can respond in real time, not just react afterwards. It helps keep students on track and supports those at risk of falling behind, including disadvantaged students who may need additional attention.

⚡ Plan faster and teach smarter with AI

When 90,000 extra students are expected, lesson planning needs to be both efficient and flexible. LessonUp’s AI tools for teachers can help:

• Build a full lesson structure in minutes.
• Create quizzes to catch misconceptions early.
• Generate debates, glossaries, rubrics or even images, instantly.

This is what saving time truly looks like: helping reduce teaching workload in the face of growing class sizes.