The Primary Capital Programme (PCP) will afford primary schools the same opportunity as BSF: to design totally re-imagined learning spaces. But is there the vision to effect this kind of transformation or will we just end up with the same classrooms, just shinier and smarter?

Most adults’ experiences of learning have taken place in the classroom. So whilst you can take the teacher out of the classroom, the challenge is to take the classroom out of the teacher (or the school leader, headteacher and so on) and think of the needs of today’s learner.

Professor Kenn Fisher, internationally-renowned expert on designing learning spaces, eschews the classroom and espouses alternatives: ‘unless you are careful you could end up with classrooms again … I just don’t think classrooms are the way forward’.

So what to do? An article from the forthcoming VISION, seems to suggest at least three ways to avoid Fisher’s ‘trap’:

1. Firstly — look at case studies and best practice of innovative new schools designs. Sharrow School, an acclaimed new-build in Sheffield, took five years to emerge and incorporated a great deal of consultation and stakeholder engagement. Headteacher Lynne Leye advises open-minded thinking: ‘Think about that you want, your philosophy. And then think about how you can fit that into your brief. And don’t be prescriptive.’
2. Second — don’t overlook the expertise already within your walls: school leaders, teachers, parents and the pupils themselves. Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham, comments that it’s up to the innovative teachers to take the lead here: ‘Those on the ground are going to have to start making a stand and say ‘We are dying to incorporate this [mobile phones] into our future’.
3. Third — start with a clear vision of the type of work and learning in your school. Every school design should be different; how can you remodel the space to suit the specific learning needs and aspirations of the school?

what if we thought of learning as missions and the headteacher as the chief wizard?

At a recent NCSL conference on PCP, Keri Facer challenged school leaders to think differently: ‘what would a school look like if we thought of learning as missions and the headteacher as the chief wizard? What would a school designed as a game look like?’.

Finally, Hannah Jones, Director of the PCP and BSF leadership programmes for the NCSL has this to say: ‘Local authorities and school leaders have the opportunity to completely rethink their educational provision and learning environments’.

Let’s hope they take it.

This post was inspired by an article in the June 2008 edition of Futurelab’s magazine VISION. You can subscribe to this publication FREE at: http://forms.futurelab.org.uk/subscribe

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