Depending upon your intonation as you read that question it may have come across as dismissive of the role of classrooms, but actually it is intended with more enthusiasm for classrooms than that. I’ve been reflecting upon a presentation I gave a few months ago at the ‘Education Unbound’ event in London where I was asked to talk about the role of social software in ‘blurring the boundaries’ of formal and informal learning. The other cause for reflection has been an increase in the number of ‘non-formal learning’ organisations that have been in touch recently – organisation that are educational providers outside of schools, for example museums, charities and galleries.

The question of what is so special about classrooms demands more of an answer now than ever before. Historically, the classroom was almost the only place where learners could have access the resources to support their learning, but a wide range of resources can now be accessed online: from school owned resources made available through Learning Platforms, to educational resources created and shared widely (from MIT, OU, BBC, and resources like icould) to resources created purposefully for out of school learning; to resources for alternative purposes, but that can be used by learners to find out and discover (youtube, videojug, wikipedia etc).

Historically, the school was one of the only places, other than perhaps Churches, where a trained, professional was available to teach and support learning; now mentors and teachers can be found in supermarkets, accessed from home and found online. The extended school moves school aims and practices into the home; the ‘whole child’ agenda attempts to bring the life and wellbeing of the child into the actions of the school. This blurring of roles can be seen to continue with the possibilities offered by social software, online networks and new ways of organising interest groups.

Similarly, as the interest grows in bringing Children’s services together to provide a more coherent offering to students, it is important to recognise the education provision from other quarters: for example, the National Trust offers contextualised, hands-on discovery learning; Museums offer the chance to engage with a range of artefacts and stories; Science centres the chance to explore processes of science, and outdoor sites provide opportunities to develop skills of leadership, enquiry and collaboration. These sites for learning have developed these approaches to learning over many years; digital technology affords newer approaches that are still very much being investigated – but there is a whole host of providers of education and many new opportunities for accessing learning.

Within the current economic context, when budgets are tightened and cuts are looking to be made, surely now is the opportunity to look at how non-formal providers, and indeed services through digital technologies, can be used to share the responsibility for ‘formal’ educational provision.

Could workforce remodelling look not only at ‘in-school’ staff but utilise the expertise of museum educators?  Could curricula developments include provision from online networks, and could the partnerships set out in the Government’s recent whitepaper move beyond schools to the non-formal providers?

Of course there is something very special about sitting in an auditorium listening to a world expert talking about their work and insights; there is something very special about discussing a subject of interest with peers facilitated by an person whose role is to help you understand; and there is something very special about being able to access world-class resources online and using them when needed. And of course there is something very special about a really good classroom experience.

But they all have different reasons for being special, and offer something distinct from one another.

The classroom is a complex place: it brings together of a group of people with a professionally trained expert in a site dedicated to teaching and learning; it provides access to resources that often are created to help learn about particular subjects or issues. But what is so special about them? What is it that can’t be provided by non-formal education organisations? What is it that can’t be accessed through digital technologies? If we can begin to understand this uniqueness, perhaps we can focus our efforts on building on it, whilst creating stronger links to alternative providers of education and other access points to learning.

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