TEACHERS have hailed a scheme that encourages children to talk more in class as a success.

Talk for Learning has been running in 48 primary schools in North Yorkshire for the past 18 months.

The scheme, based on national and international research on how children learn, allows teachers to pose questions designed to help children think more deeply.

It encourages debate among pupils and teaches them how to listen to each other, reason, and put forward balanced arguments.

Teachers say it has led to noisier lessons, but say that youngsters have also begun to think more.

Hutton Rudby Primary School teacher Abi Clay said: "I started by setting a positive environment for talk in the classroom, giving talk a high profile. There was more noise in the classroom, not so much recording in books, and lessons were a lot louder.

"But the children are using a much more extensive vocabulary now because we are focusing on what it actually means.

"They are also thinking independently and at a deeper level because they know I am going to come back at them and question them further on the answers they have given.

"They are more articulate and have become better writers as a result of the talk."

Headteacher Amanda Beanland said: "The project has made us challenge our thinking, making us value talk as an effective teaching and learning tool."

A detailed evaluation of the scheme showed that children were talking louder, with more confidence and in greater depth, and that the less able and quieter children had become more involved in lessons.

There was evidence that children listened to each other and helped classmates instead of competing with them.

Councillor Chris Metcalfe, the county council's executive member for education, said the scheme had been so successful it would be extended to other primary schools.

He said: "It is brave, imaginative, pioneering and effective.

"It has been a stunning success so far and we now have an infrastructure in place to disseminate Talk for Learning widely."