ABSTRACT
Nowadays books and courses about teaching stress the importance of verbal interaction. Teachers are expected to converse with children and, in turn, the children are encouraged to talk to each other. Group interaction is generally seen as vital in the development of children’s knowledge and understanding. Carefully focused teachers’ talk and teacher-pupil conversations are both regarded as vital in promoting learning in the classroom. Many teachers express concern about children’s oral skills and lack of listening. They also complain that there is insufficient time to have conversation with children. Much of this book is dedicated to the importance of learning through speaking and listening in the classroom. In this it is not out of step with a general emphasis on the use of discussion. So it may be timely to review the purpose and value of silence. Rather than the silence imposed on children as part of a formal and authoritarian school regime of a generation ago, let us consider whether silence can contribute to the development of children’s freedom of thought and their general wellbeing: something that is also a matter of concern in today’s world.
