“With a voice like that, you’ll never make a teacher - you are far too quiet.”  

The recipient of this comment, my mother, was a wonderfully nurturing and inspiring primary school teacher for 25 years. 

Yet one superficial judgement of her character, by the headteacher in her first training school no less, nearly resulted in her giving up her dream to teach. 

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In researching for my new book A Quiet Education, many teachers contacted me with similar stories, often expressing frustration that quietness is perceived as a barrier to effective teaching. 

The reality is, though, that quiet teachers have many, many benefits to offer schools and pupils. Here are four that resonate with me.

1. Quiet strengths 

Firstly, it is important to reflect on the strengths that quieter personalities can bring to the classroom. 

The list is long: reflective and interpersonal skills; a dislike of conflict that facilitates calmer classrooms; drive and focus; a passion for their subject; and, perhaps most important of all, deep empathy for their students and colleagues. 

What resonates from that list is the fact that they are qualities that are deep-rooted and introspective. They might not be evident in a superficial interview situation, or in the artifice of a staff meeting. 

They will, however, be powerfully clear where it really matters: in the classroom and in interactions with young people. 

2. Quiet performance 

The glib rejection of teachers based on perceived personality traits is also misunderstanding the real nature of teaching. 

Teaching is, and always will be, deeply interconnected with performance - and most of us bring to the classroom a version of ourselves that those who know us best might not instantly identify with. 

For many quieter or introverted teachers, there is real pleasure in delivering a more extroverted performance in the classroom. Personally, as the embodiment of an introvert, it is one of the aspects of teaching that I love. When teaching English, I am stripped of the inhibitions I often feel in everyday conversations.

Joe Moran, a professor of English and cultural history, and the author of Shrinking Violets: The secret life of shyness, wrote in his case study for A Quiet Education: “In front of a class I have been given permission to speak uninterrupted, and am free to make up a slightly amplified, cartoonish version of myself.”

German has a word for it: Maskenfreiheit. It means “the freedom that comes from wearing masks”.

This performance stems from a deep-rooted sense of purpose and conviction: an understanding of the importance of the work we do with young people, and of what they need from us to be motivated and learn. 

3. Quiet time

It does, however, require significant energy, and a capacity to embrace quiet and restorative time to prevent burnout.

We all need to respect the fact that some teachers might just not want to run to the staff room at break and lunch, they might need that time to re-energise in a way that works for them.

It is not aloofness or arrogance - it is a self-awareness that will help to sustain a long career managing the demands of working with young people. 

4. Valuing quiet 

The implication that quietness will automatically mean a lack of effectiveness in the classroom is symptomatic of a society in which often those who talk the loudest and the most are often perceived to have the most to offer. 

Our classrooms, however, are full of quieter students who need to see that teachers are not generated in some warped extroverted factory.

Those students, indeed all our students, also need to feel that quiet is something to be celebrated and promoted, certainly not criticised. 

The teachers who might just have more of a preference for listening, for humility and for saying less are the examples they need. 

Maybe, just maybe, those teachers like my mother are the gracious role models we all need. 

Jamie Thom is a teacher of English in Scotland, who previously worked in schools in England. His book A Quiet Education was published in February. He tweets @teachgratitude1