Learning & Education
glaspaper critical writings on architecture and space
04
Against the noisy clamour for perpetual war against terror and the immediate bombing of Iraq it is easy to forget that the Labour government in the UK was elected on the basis of promises to invest heavily in education. By raising standards in schools and universities their plan was to put the UK at the forefront of the new ‘knowledge led economy’.
This issue of glaspaper focuses on ‘Education and Learning’, examining the consequences of such policies and asking questions about the way in which these terms have been framed to suit those in positions of power. Highly publicised increases in spending on schools and the privatisation of buildings and services through the adoption of Public Finance Initiative (see glaspaper 03) has seen massive school building programmes rolled out across the country. The city of Glasgow has recently seen the completion of a PFI renovation and maintenance contract worth £1.2 billion, involving 29 secondary schools – 12 being completely rebuilt. We examine the environmental implications for the students and staff who shall work in these buildings for the next 25 years. That an economy should be ‘knowledge’ led is rather like saying that a train should have an engine and travel on rails. Who controls what we mean by knowledge and benefits from its commercial application? Why is it that despite large increases in the proportion of young people attending university the gap between rich and poor shows no sign of narrowing? >>