When it comes to setting up your classroom space, there is a lot to think about. There’s the configuration of the desks, the design of your reading corner and, of course, wall displays.
But how much attention do you pay to the use of sound in your room? The noises in a classroom can have a huge impact on learning, so focusing on the audio arrangements could have just as much impact on students as the design of the visual or physical elements, suggests Gary Spracklen, headteacher at The Prince of Wales School in Dorset.
“It’s one of the easiest things that we can control with the cheapest budget,” he says.
Spracklen sees the design of learning spaces as fundamental and questions why many schools don’t pay enough attention to the way a classroom is set up. In particular, he sees sound as playing an important, and often overlooked, role in this.
“There are a whole host of available resources [in sound] that ultimately can take children anywhere in the world,” he explains. “[You can say] ‘Close your eyes and listen to this. Where do you see yourself?’ It’s such a powerful concept.”
Outside of the classroom, Spracklen has set about creating an audio environment that students experience throughout the day, with music setting the tone.
“We have installed speakers at the front of the school,” he explains. “When children arrive in the morning we have upbeat music on, so we ensure that the music is promoting a positive message. We play music linked to a music curriculum to provide exposure to the content that they will be picking up perhaps later on in the lesson.”
Like teachers all over the world, Spracklen is helping students to recover from a period of disruption to their learning. They are all working at different levels and some have particularly struggled with the prolonged isolation.
This period has also seen students’ screen time dramatically increase, with lessons carried out via video call and home learning often supplemented with digital resources - and all this has taken its toll.
“I do feel that there has been a kind of death-by-video approach to how we adapted during the pandemic,” says Spracklen.
“It’s good to break down that focus on a screen. They say if you want to taste something better, close your eyes, cover your ears and focus on that one sense. I think it’s the same if we just provide an audio experience. The process is enriched because we’re focusing on that one sense. And it’s perhaps a sense that [pupils have] not focused on as much because we’ve become so used to seeing everything with our eyes.”
Alison Kriel is an education consultant who previously worked in inner-city schools. She agrees that the balance between visual and aural learning needs to be redressed.
“If you look at parents coming to collect the children at the end of the school day, many toddlers are given their parents’ phones,” says Kriel. “So there’s an awful lot of visual learning going on around us all the time. There is a need to increase the amount of learning through listening included in the school curriculum.”
According to Kriel, by focusing on sound and by using a mix of visual and aural teaching materials, teachers can instantly create a more inclusive classroom.
“Some people are visual learners, some people are auditory learners. If you are going to be an effective teacher and you want every single child to do their very best, then it’s about acknowledging that everyone has different learning styles in your classroom,” she says.
“For bilingual learners, when instructions are given out it’s even more important that those instructions are given with clarity in a quiet environment, so that there’s one voice rather than a blend of voices.”
To hear these interviews in full, click on the podcast below:
This podcast is sponsored by now>press>play, an award-winning immersive audio resource for primary schools, engaging children in the curriculum through sound, story and movement. To find out more, access your free audio resources and book a free trial visit nowpressplay.co.uk
