Publication Launch Event: Sound in schools and its impact on learning and teachers’ wellbeing

24/10/2023

In the spring of 2023, the Future Classroom Lab and its long-standing partner Ecophon Saint-Gobain conducted a survey among secondary school teachers across Europe investigating the impact of school sound and classroom noise on the work, health and wellbeing of both educators and learners. The questionnaire was launched in mid-February and remained open until the end of May. It was available in 13 languages. The topic of classroom acoustics and teachers’ wellbeing is important for European Schoolnet as while we design and promote innovative teaching and learning models which aim to encourage student participation, collaboration and debate, we also have to remain attentive to the impact these new approaches have on noise levels and possibly on teacher and student mental and physical health.

Following this first stage of the investigation, we contacted selected teachers to gain a deeper look at the issue of sound from their perspective - what were their hopes and aspirations for wellbeing in schools and what particular experiences from their practices stood out as relevant to the issue of sound and acoustics.

Subsequently, we analysed the responses from the survey as well as the information gathered through the interviews and compiled a report, titled “Teacher Survey: Sound in schools and its impact on learning and teachers’ wellbeing”, which outlines the current state of play in classroom acoustics across Europe and summarises what secondary school educators from across Europe think about the impact of classroom and school noise on their work and well-being.

On 3rd November 2023 at 12:00 CET, we are hosting a webinar at which we will launch the aforementioned report and where participants will have the opportunity to hear from the authors some further thoughts on the survey, the results, the analysis of the results and the topic in general.

Speakers

Antoine Bilgin, Pedagogical & Research Coordinator at European Schoolnet.

Anna Laghigna, Education Consultant, European Schoolnet.

Irena Polewczyk, PhD, Associate Professor, research and didactic employee, Director of the Institute of Pedagogy, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland.

Silvia Sasot, Learning environments designer, consultant and lecturer.