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AAV Space for Change: Educational Transformation


This is an Accessible Alternative Version (AAV) of the Adobe Acrobat Portable Document, Space for Change: Educational Transformation and Building Schools for the Future (PDF). The Adobe Acrobat Portable Document should be the preferred version for downloading.

Space for Change: Educational Transformation and Building Schools for the Future

Andrew Harrison
Director, Learning and Research
DEGW

Slides
1. Context: work is changing
  • Shaft from paper processing to knowledge brokering
  • Open and non-hierarchical organizations
  • Value in ideas not the manufacture of product
  • Work when we like, where we like, how we like
  • Organization mixture of "core staff", "freelance staff" and "partners"

Photograph of man working on computer

2. New paradigms of space ownership

Picture of old car

Core Space

  • icon and image space
  • long lease/freehold
  • prime location
  • highly serviced

Picture of Smart car

Flexi space

  • shorter leases
  • administrative or sales space
  • conference/training space

Picture of AVIS

Pay-as-you-go

  • licensed or pay for use
  • shared/borrowed from partners

Company's assets are 'know how', not physical assets

3. The distributed workplace

Virtual to physical

Knowledge Systems e.g. VPN/Intranet, The Hive BP - picture of conference room, private - protected access, individual or collaborative workspace - picture of home office - e.g. home/office

Knowledge communities e.g. IM, project extranets video conference - picture of Microsoft Messenger - privileged invited access, collaborative project and meeting space - photograph of meeting room - e.g. clubs, airport lounges ('baby')

Internet sites e.g. public chat rooms, information sources - picture of an internet page - public, open access, informal interaction and workspace - photograph of Bryant Park, New York - e.g. cafe, hotel, lobbies, airports

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4. The city is the office

Office is the city - single location owned space

City is the office - multiple locations, shared spaces

Increase use of distributed, shared workplaces. Move from fixed to variable costs.

Photograph of interior of office building

Photograph of shared space

5. Photograph of Department of Children, Schools, and Families, London, England - open work space
6. Photograph of Department of Children, Schools, and Families, London, England - open work space
7. Is a similar transformation occurring in education?

Photograph of regimented students.

8. The rules are changing...
  • The internet has changed notions of place, time, and space
  • Emerging new methods of teaching and learning based on an improved understanding of cognition and advances in technology
  • Effect of demographic changes on learning population
  • Changing financial context for education: increased competition, pressure on resources
  • Impact of changes in government policy: role of schools in the community, increasing participation
  • Blending of lives, learning, and leisure
  • Life-long learning

Photograph of students at computer terminals.

9. Where does learning take place in the United Kingdom?

Some numbers...

The floor area of maintained primary and secondary schools in England is in the order of 60 million square meters, with a replacement value of around £130 billion
Source: DfES 2006

Publicly funded Scottish schools comprise 8 million square meters of space on a site area of 51 million square meters, with a replacement value of £7.7 billion
Source: Scottish Executive Statistics 2005/2006

The United Kingdom Higher Education estate comprises 24.9 million square meters of gross space with a replacement value of £38.9 billion
Source: AUDE Review 2005/2006

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10. Utilization of educational space
  • School classroom utilization approximately 80% during core day
  • Schools currently only used for about 18% of the total time available
  • Utilization rates of 15% to 20% still common in United Kingdom universities
  • Little attention paid to utilization of library and social spaces
  • Use of space out of core hours and term time is increasing
  • Scope for major rethinking of use of space and time in education across schools and further and higher education

Photograph of library book stacks

11. Building Schools for the Future (BSF)
  • Major investment underway across all areas of education:
    • Refurbishment or replacement of every secondary school in England
    • 60 billion plus investment in England over 15 years
    • 5 billion minus 10 billion spent on information technology
    • A new school every 3.5 days for 15 years
  • Additional investment programs for primary schools, Academies, plus Scotland, Wales and North Ireland
  • Revolution not evolution in education practice - rethinking education process, use of space, time, and technology

Photograph of blackboard blowing up

12. Government view of Building Schools for the Future
  • "Building Schools for the Future aims to create learning environments which inspire all young people to unlock hidden talents and reach their full potential; provide teachers with 21st Century work places; and provide access to facilities which can be used by all members of the local community."
    Source: Partnership for Schools Web site
  • "Ministers expect local authorities to use Building Schools for the Future to deliver a step change in attainment levels by increasing school diversity and enhancing parental choice in their areas."
    Source: Partnership for Schools Guide to the Building Schools for the Future Program 2008

Photograph of boys playing soccer

13. Good press
  • First new build Building Schools for the Future school reports "best ever" GCSE results
  • The percentage of students achieving top GCSE grades has almost doubled at the first new build Building Schools for the Future (BSF) school.
  • Bristol Brunel Academy - one of thirteen BSF schools now open, and the first to be delivered by a Local Educational Partnership - is today celebrating the fact the 34% of students were awarded five or more GCSEs grades A* to C including English and Maths, up from 19% last year.
    Source: P4S Press release August 21, 2008

Photograph of Bristol Brunel Academy

14. Quote from Tim Byles, Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools, the government agency delivering the BSF program

"Whenever I visit new or refurbished BSF schools, teachers, students, and their parents tell me what a difference the new environment is making, and independent research is starting to confirm this as well.

Young people feel safer, they feel proud about their school and want to go there every day, and most importantly they feel inspired to learn."

Photograph of Tim Byles

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15. Beware of the Hawthorne Effect...
  • Research into the effects of the school environment on young people's attitudes towards education and learning
  • Students felt safer and enjoyed school more in their new BSF school
  • The proportions of students who said they:
    • Felt safe at school most or all of the time increased from 57% to 87%
    • Felt proud of their school increased from 43% to 77%
    • Enjoyed going to school increased from 50% to 61%
    • Expected to stay on in the sixth form or to go to college increased from 64% to 77

Source: National Foundation for Education Research

16. Delivering 21st Century Schools

Education Visions - improved outcomes, personalized learning, inter-agency co-location, schools as community hub

Current National Agendas - Workforce Reform, 14-19 Reform, Every Child Matters, Extended Schools

School Design Best Practice - Remove environmental constraints to learning, enable positive learning interactions, stimulate and inspire with space, support community access and engagement.

17. Every Child Matters: Physical Implications of Policy
  • Every child to have the support they need to:
    • Be healthy
    • Stay safe
    • Enjoy and achieve
    • Make a positive contribution
    • Achieve economic well-being
  • Organizations involved with providing services to children will be teaming up in new ways, sharing information and working together
  • Creation of personalized learning and support programs for each child
  • Spaces to support individual and small group learning
  • 800 million committed so far to implement the Extended Schools program across the United Kingdom

Photograph of students with cell phone

18. Extended Schools
  • Extended Schools provide a range of services and activities to help meet the needs of children, their families, and the wider community
  • Services may include childcare, adult education, parenting support programs, and community-based health and social care services
  • Increased use of the school beyond the normal school day
  • Boundaries between the school and the community are dissolving - the locked school gate will be a thing of the past

Photograph of a doctor examining a child

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19. Personalized Learning
  • Key driver of the Government's transformational educational agenda and it is also central to the Department of Children, Schools, and Families' (DCSF) Children's Plan
  • Taking a highly structured and responsive approach to each child's and young person's learning, in order that all are able to progress, achieve, and participate
  • 'Space for Personalized Learning'
    • DCSF funded, DEGW led $7 million research project 2008-2010
    • Explore the implications of personalized approaches to teaching and learning for the design and use of space
    • New-build and refurbished primary and secondary schools
20. Project Faraday: Rethinking Science Education
  • Poor quality science spaces seen as major factor in reduction of science student numbers in HE
  • Re-invent science spaces and the school 'science experience'
  • Make science more attractive to students
  • Liked to changes in education policy - students as consumers of science rather than producers
  • Achieve transformation within existing space and cost guidelines (BB98)

Blended Science Education

Communicate - share the results

  • Virtual
    • Web Sites
    • Wikis
    • Video
    • Video conferences
  • Physical
    • Presentations
    • Models
    • Reports

Analyze - understand the data

  • Virtual
    • On-line tools
  • Physical
    • Tabulation
    • PC statistics and graphing tools

Experiment - test the hypothesis

  • Virtual
    • On-line experiments
    • Simulations
  • Physical
    • Laboratory and field experiments

Observe - search for patterns

  • Virtual
    • Webcams
    • On-line data streams
    • Virtual reality
    • Video/DVD
  • Physical
    • Out of school learning
    • Laboratory demonstrations

Explore - understand the context and develop the hypothesis

  • Virtual
    • On-line research
    • Webcasts
  • Physical
    • Visits
    • Discussions
    • Printed materials
21. The Faraday Process

A diagram of a wheel

  • Teaching and learning - strategy
  • Teaching and learning - process
  • Space and technology
  • People
  • Vision
  • Outside the wheel research
22. Drawing of open spaced classroom
23. Drawing of open spaced classroom
24. Drawing of open spaced lecture hall

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25. Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Procurement Process
  • 10 waves of local authorities scheduled for BSF programs over the next 10 plus years
  • Redevelopment/remodeling of all secondary schools in the area (50% remodel, 50% new build)
  • Key role of 'Strategy for Change' documents at school and local authority level
  • 'Streamlined' procurement process 26-30 months to construction
  • Bid costs for a BSF project is 3 to 4 million pounds
  • Selection of development consortia based on small number of sample schools
  • Delivery of remaining schools through a Local Education Partnership (LEP)
    • Thin LEP
    • Fat LEP
  • Demonstrated regeneration benefits of BSF program may move a local authority up the queue
26. Building Bulletins 98 and 99: Setting the Limits
  • The floor area for schools is calculated using the national space guidelines for secondary schools in DCSF Building Bulletins 98/99 based on 10 year pupil number projections
  • The floor areas for each type of space are totaled and a standard cost allowance applied at new build, major refurbishment and minor refurbishment rates
  • The national space breakdown with Building Bulleting 98 is often used as design guidance by architects and local authorities - results in conventional school designs
  • Building Bulletin 98 is a financial allocation and planning tool not a design tool
  • Educational transformation is possible within the constraints and boundaries of Building Bulletins 98/99
27. Building Schools for the Future Step by Step Guide

This is a table outlining the specific steps that are recommended to be taken by the Building Schools for the Future.

  • Local Authority Tasks
  • Local Authority School Interactions (head teacher and chair of governors)
  • Project stage estimated timeline
  • Dates
  • School tasks (head teacher and BSF team)
  • Time commitment
  • Bidders school interaction
  • Bidder tasks
28. Bad Press
  • The majority of secondary schools being built under the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) program are 'mediocre' in design
  • An estimated eight out of ten designs' for BSF secondary schools were 'not good enough' and less than a fifth were considered to be 'good' or 'excellent'
  • Pressure to build new schools quickly and cheaply has dominated at the expense of making sure classrooms work for lessons
    Source: Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment 2008
  • The BSF program involved...a 'narrow approach to procurement' in which design was left out of the bidding process.'
    Source: Royal Institute of British Architects 2008
  • The government's target of having 100 BSF schools open by the end of the financial year 2008-09 looks highly unlikely to be met, with only 13 schools heaving opened so far.
    Source: CBI 2008
29. Wolverhampton Building Schools for the Future (BSF)
  • Application of the Faraday process within the BSF program
  • 27 schools being developed during the next five years
  • DEGW supporting the local authority with client design advisor and technical advisory role
  • Working with schools to develop their strategic visions
  • Helping the 27 architects to understand the spatial implications of teaching and learning transformation
  • Change management support for schools to help them achieve their vision

City map of Wolverhampton with schools highlighted

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30. Learning and Teaching Models

This is a chart of learning and teaching models including organizational model (people/process) and spatial model (place)

31. Learning and Teaching Models

This is a chart of learning and teaching models including organizational model (people/process) and spatial model (place) with the potential future vision

32. Supporting Change: Developing a Change Management Strategy

Exploring - photograph of mountain climbers

  • Embracing discovery
    • Shared risk taking
    • revolutionary rather than evolutionary change
    • Prepared for failure/mistake

Creating - photograph of person throwing a clay pot

  • Embracing the vision
    • Importance of co-creation
    • Celebration of journey as much as the destination
    • Hands-on involvement in process
    • 'Emphasis is on the result, clean up the studio later'

Building - photograph of a man laying bricks

  • Embracing the process
    • Systematic or modular approach to change
    • Co-operation and interaction between sub-projects
    • Risk assessments before the change begins

Investigating - photograph of a man carving

  • Embracing the evidence
    • Use of precedent to justify the change
    • Wide consultation
    • Controlled experimentation
    • Measurement of results at each stage
33. The Evolving School

Pastoral Care - house system, peer to peer support, mentorship

Pedagogy - full didactic, group learning, personalized learning

Curriculum - structured curriculum, project based curriculum, unstructured curriculum

Service hours - 9 am-5pm, 7am to 7pm core access, 24/7 access

Management paradigms - head teacher, school board, CEO not from teaching

Staff structures - teachers, coaches, facilitators and professionals

Learning locations - learning on site, physical core, virtual anywhere, anywhere, anytime

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34. Hellerup, Denmark
  • New-build school in Copenhagen
  • Central functions are located around the stairs in the middle of the building, also known as the Colosseum, used for circulation, teaching and large-scale presentations, group work and lunch breaks.
  • Nine 'home areas', 330 to 400 square meters, which hold several classes at once and consist of a mixture of small and large rooms. Using mobile cabinets, bookcases and screen walls, the home area can be divided into smaller units as required.
  • Learning Team Approach with personal learning plans and project based learning.
35. High Tech High
  • Charter school in San Diego, California
    • 2,500 pupils
    • 6 schools
  • Remodeled Naval Training Base/new build
  • Small School model based around:
    • Personalization
    • Adult world connection
    • Common intellectual mission
  • Thematic project based learning delivery model
  • No distinction between vocational and academic education
  • Peer assessment and public display of work
  • Paired classrooms around shared open space
36. Discovery 1/Unlimited, Christchurch, New Zealand
  • Primary school and high school located in redundant space above department stores
  • Students directing and managing their own learning based on their interests
  • Learning occurring anywhere without restriction of curriculum, place, time, style, or subject
  • Home bases for 18-24 students of mixed ages, students can also work at home
  • Use of community mentors and businesses to supplement learning resources
  • Use of city facilities for sports, libraries, recreation
37. Notschool.net
  • Notschool.net is specifically aimed at those for whom traditional alternatives such as home tutoring have not worked
  • Learners are called 'researchers' and the teachers are 'mentors'
  • Researchers provided with computer, webcam, and scanner
  • Subject 'experts', 'buddies' (undergraduate or post-graduate students who offer support) and 'governors', prominent people who did not get on well at school
  • 50% and more attain five GCSE A*-C equivalents, many go on to further and higher education; others become employed
38. Some big questions to explore
  • What will a 21st century 'school' look like?
  • How do we get long term value out of the massive investment that is being made in education?
  • How can such a radical change be achieved so quickly?
39. Transformation not extinction: new space models
  • Traditional categories of space are becoming less meaningful as space becomes less specialized, boundaries blue, and operating hours extend toward 24-7
  • Space types designed primarily around patterns of human interaction rather than specific needs of particular departments, disciplines or technologies
  • New space models focus on enhancing quality of life as much as on supporting the learning experience
  • Redefining 'balance' space - circulation as glue
  • Circulation as event space
  • More freely available space group project work, solo work

Three photographs of various circulation space

40. Where do we go from here?
  • Wider engagement on the implications of educational change for social and urban change
  • Schools as providers or workplace, health and social services, and leisure facilities for the community
  • School as social enterprise
  • Exploring integration of learning settings across schools, vocational, and higher education
  • Creation of learning centered communities

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Questions:   Shannon Farrell-Hart | sfarrell@cde.ca.gov | 916-323-3923
Last Reviewed: Wednesday, October 30, 2024