Silence creates a lot of noise in education: debates rage about how much of it is needed for teaching to be successful or whether it is desirable at all. It reflects a wider confusion over what silence represents in society: peaceful reflection or draconian clampdown on free speech? Do we suffer from being silenced, or is silence golden?

Of course, context is key. In schools, silence can be viewed in pastoral, behavioural and academic contexts, to name just three broad areas. And there are obviously times when you would not want children to be silent - when they are working collaboratively or in tasks where oracy is the focus, for instance. So, is there any research that tells us with any confidence how quiet our schools should or should not be?

A study published in Psychological Science found that children exposed to noise are more likely to suffer from stress and tension, whereas silence has the opposite effect. The researchers found that students attending schools located near noisy airports had significantly higher levels of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, as well as markedly higher blood-pressure readings than children in quieter neighbourhoods.

But isolating the noise from socioeconomic factors is obviously tricky here. And what about the type of noise? Does that have an impact on how much students are affected? A separate study in 2013 monitored the effects that different types of noise and silence have on the brains of mice. Researchers discovered that when the animals were exposed to two hours of silence per day, they developed new brain cells associated with memory, emotion and learning.

What about direct evidence from the learning environment, though? Nick Perham, a senior lecturer at the department of applied psychology at Cardiff Metropolitan University, has done quite a bit of work in this area. In his 2014 paper, Does listening to preferred music improve reading comprehension performance?, he found that while some studies suggest that certain people perform tasks better while listening to music, reading comprehension is typically impaired by lyrical music and speech. While he found that instrumental music reduces this impairment, his research leads him to believe that a silent environment is best for concentrating and thriving academically. And that’s not just based on studies with music.

“In emotional studies that we conduct where we have people performing a task, like recording a series of numbers, we compare performance in silence with what we call acoustically varying sound, such as everyday sounds like people talking and classroom noises,” Perham explains. “You do find consistently that performance is significantly worse when you have this acoustically varying sound, compared with quiet. There is a massive difference - it can be a 20-30 per cent performance drop in some cases.”

Helen Lees, a research fellow in the Laboratory for Educational Theory at the University of Stirling’s school of education, who has recently written a book about the value of silence in schools, also believes a classroom should be quiet for students to thrive academically - in theory. She doesn’t believe it’s that straightforward in practice, though.

Lees identifies two types of silence: weak and strong. In her view, strong silence is created by agreement with children, whereas weak silence is imposed on children unilaterally by the teacher. The latter imposition is seen by Lees as problematic: it suggests an unchallenged authority that could lead to a lack of transparency.

So, essentially, children buying into silence rather than simply being told to be silent is optimal. Indeed, when used positively, silence can be hugely beneficial, having a transformative effect on both pupils and teachers, Lees believes.

“Silence must be a product of active choice. It can only be beneficial in this way. Otherwise it is repression,” she says. “This emphasis on active choice [being] necessary means [silence] is not ideal for everyone all the time because not everyone is desiring it equally. Nevertheless, there is this paradox of community: to achieve silence for those for whom it is right, the others must be generous and kind enough to not sabotage the silence desired by some.”

Yet the more negative side of silence is not restricted to imposed silence, argue some researchers. Obviously, when learning certain things, silence would be hugely negative: learning to enunciate in an MFL lesson would clearly be hindered if you could not actually make any noise. But there are other concerns, too. One study suggests that a silent classroom can lead to a paralysing fear of being put on the spot, called out, shown up, shamed or humiliated, and that discussion, debate and critique, along with the encouragement of advice-seeking and questioning, are integral pedagogical approaches.

Silence in the classroom?

Another study claims that a moderate level of ambient noise is actually ideal for creative thinking. It suggests that moderate noise increases processing difficulty, which in turn promotes abstract processing. In other words, the extra work our brain has to do while processing a problem or task in a relatively noisy environment gives us the extra push we need to find more creative solutions.

And some academics believe that, while research suggests silence is an ideal environment for reading comprehension and learning, it shouldn’t be treated as beneficial for all students, particularly those with attention disorders.

“People with ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder] describe having multiple simultaneous thoughts, a busy and uncontrollable mind, and a lack of inner peace. This inner turmoil is very distracting and can disrupt focus,” explains Sally Cubbin, a consultant psychiatrist with special expertise in the diagnosis and management of ADHD.

“Some find ‘white noise’ helpful - or have a personal preference for a type of music to try to distract themselves from this or drown it out. Silence may just enhance these features and disrupt focus. People who suffer from ADHD are often very easily distracted anyway - both by their own thoughts or external noises and other distractions in the environment and, once distracted, it is hard to get back on track.

“In theory, an exam hall is ‘silent’ with no talking allowed, but students with ADHD are often easily distracted by noises such as a ticking clock, a phone ringing down the corridor, hearing someone drop a pen or typing on a keyboard. They can’t filter out those noises and this disrupts their performance.”

Cubbin’s point here is an interesting one: we seek silence in schools, yet schools are never truly silent. The research on the impact of silence is compromised, therefore, as we are never quite talking in the absolute terms we may imagine: there is always some form of noise from somewhere, no matter how far we try to eliminate it.

So, no, there isn’t a clear picture about the role of silence in schools, but there are some hints: having an environment in which learning is our central focus is important, and having a mixture across a day of quieter and louder periods seems sensible. But beyond that? There’s a lot more - probably noisy - debate to be had.

Carly Page is a freelance writer

This article originally appeared in the 12 March 2021 issue under the headline “Tes focus on…silence”