The emergence and popularization of small class teaching in China is still something in recent years. After the mid-1990s, some big cities in China (such as Shanghai) experienced negative population growth. Especially in the central areas of some big cities, the enrollment of primary schools has been greatly reduced. The situation that the number of students decreases while the number of teachers remains the same provides favorable conditions for the implementation of small class teaching in primary schools. So small class teaching first appeared in Shanghai.

The implementation of "small class education" in primary schools in Shanghai is to meet the needs of comprehensively implementing quality education and building first-class basic education. From 1996, beijing east road Primary School in Huangpu District was the first batch of pilot schools, and from 1997, the experimental group was further expanded. At present, the experimental contents include: the classroom is equipped with one class with two classrooms or two classes with three classrooms, and the other classroom is used as an activity classroom other than the classroom for class. There are science and technology corner, life corner, toy corner, exhibition corner, tape recorder, slide projector and other audio-visual facilities in the classroom. The arrangement of desks and chairs has changed from single paddy field to horseshoe, incision and group, so as to narrow the psychological and spatial distance between students and between teachers and students. The teachers in the pilot class implement the class system, that is, each class has 2.5 teachers, instead of teaching only one course, they take several courses concurrently.