Many teachers take great pride in dazzling classroom displays, whereas others see them as little more than a time-consuming distraction from their teaching efforts.
But here’s a question worth considering: does the classroom display lead to any discernible benefits for our pupils? Or, actually, could it distract them from learning?
In the latest issue of the journal Cognitive Science, US researcher Karrie Godwin and colleagues (2022) explore the ”Effect of repeated exposure to the visual environment on young children’s attention”. They researched whether young children in US kindergarten settings were adversely distracted when being taught science lessons in decorated classroom environments compared with more streamlined classroom settings.
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Of course, being distracted and spending time off-task is impacted by a host of factors, but when you are listening to a teacher read aloud, minimising visual distractions could have a small but significant effect. The researchers used eye-tracking of pupils’ gazes to monitor their attention on the teacher.
Questions over the benefits of classroom displays
In real classroom settings, they found a small but significant difference in the pupils’ level of distraction. A small 5 per cent difference in attention among the young pupils appeared to be sustained over a matter of months.
So should teachers slam down the stapler and streamline their classroom walls? Well, the context of the research clearly needs recognition: it was conducted with young children, whose self-regulation and attention skills are not yet fully developed.
It is likely that older pupils are more able to exercise self-control and sustained attention on the teacher. And yet, arguably, it is primary classroom walls that are often the most decorated and distinctly interesting.
The researchers do raise the important question of the value of wall displays. Conventional wisdom is that “working walls” can offer pupils - particularly primary school pupils - the added opportunity to seek out support resources. For instance, “word walls” are common in classrooms across primary and secondary schools.
Overall, the insights gleaned by Godwin and colleagues are enough to give us pause for thought about the added value of displays. Maybe streamlined classroom walls would save teachers effort and marginally, but meaningfully, help pupils of all ages to sustain their attention in class?
The evidence regarding decorative classroom displays is not definitive, and more research is needed, but this study should make teachers think harder about cluttering their classroom walls and hoping it leads to more learning.
We needn’t pursue sterile laboratory conditions, nor leave the classroom walls to ruinous neglect, but teachers could save their energy and prevent distractions by avoiding adding new adornments just for the sake of it.
Alex Quigley is national content manager at the Education Endowment Foundation. He is a former teacher and the author of Closing the Reading Gap, published by Routledge
