This paper critically examines the evidence for the effectiveness of gentle teaching. In the last five years the literature in the field of gentle teaching has been dominated by case studies pointing to the success of gentle teaching and by experimental research which failed to show such an effect. More recently there have been criticisms of some of the early experimental evaluations and some limited evidence for effectiveness under controlled conditions. It seems that in some circumstances gentle teaching can be successful. Future research must address itself towards the analysis of these circumstances rather than global and relatively meaningless questions regarding overall effectiveness.