Learning Spaces Magazine

LEARNING SPACES Volume 3.3

What does the research tell us?

How does design impact on learning?

In association with

Learning Spaces Vol 1:1

Editorial Hello!

I James Clarke Editor

nterviewing Toby Young, co-founder of West London Free School last autumn, the need for thorough, empirical and up-to-date research relating to innovative learning environments really hit home to me. I’d interviewed Toby to try to understand why, when so much informed opinion was questioning traditional approaches, his school uses ones not massively dissimilar to those used in 1950’s colonial Britain. It was impossible, however, to simply reject his educational philosophies, as I have to admit I’d expected to, as simplistic, traditional dogma, finding them instead being rooted in the largest educational research programme the world has ever known.

As a designer I still personally felt, though, that it was illogical that one style of environment could be right for all learning situations but recognised, too, that I had little evidence to prove it. So we held over the feature that came from that interview for this issue (see page 46), teaming it with other articles where research has formed a significant contribution to the outcome.

Firstly, Dr Tim Byers of Brisbane’s Anglican Church Grammar School, together with Professor Wes Imms of the University of Melbourne outline, on page 50, the ILETC research project that is being conducted across schools in Australia (and interestingly, they don’t wholeheartedly disagree with Toby Young). They agreed too, to some extent, at the Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet Campus in Bridgeport, Connecticut: the design of their learning environments include both the old (traditional classrooms) and the new (makerspaces and independent learning spaces): on page 64 we look at that project which went on to win the A4LE 2016 McConnell Award. And neuroscientist, Dr Tim Holmes, who was commissioned by furniture manufacturer, Spaceoasis, to look at the research that informs retail and leisure design which could be applied, instead, to learning environments, explains, on page 8, why Brinkskollan in Sweden caught his eye.

On page 24 on the other hand, former Headteacher and now education design consultant, Terry White, gives an insight into the influences behind the design of the new Academy on the Isle of Portland on the south coast of England where a number of the norms that are found in UK schools have been challenged.

Reporting on research cannot and will not be confined to just this issue though.

Whether or not you believe that a research programme that ended (in the mid 1990’s) just as the internet started to become mainstream, still remains relevant, young peoples’ education is far too important to make mistakes so it is something we must continue to look at and report on. But we must balance that, too, with removing fear of taking any risks – seeking to improve what we’re currently doing and how we’re doing it. Our long-term aim on the magazine remains to share best practice worldwide – ensuring we learn from what others are doing – which is in part why Murray Hudson, who’s Gratnells trays are found in 43 countries worldwide, Learning Rooms project is so interesting. On page 74 he gives us an insight into what inspired him to launch it, and on page 20, we’ll give you a brief insight into the eXperience Asia conference.

The world of education will always be exciting. We should never stop questioning what we’re doing and how. But we have always, too, to remember that there’s only one person in the equation who is important: the learner.

VOL 3:3

Contents

Vol: 3.3

08

Light, bright and white Neuroscientist, Dr Tim Holmes saw, in Swedish school, Brinkskolan, design detailing he was more familiar with in retail interiors. Here he tells us what first captivated him about the school and why he feels we can learn a thing or two from it.

Learning Spaces Learning Spaces is an independent magazine. The views expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent those of the magazine. The magazine cannot accept any responsibility for products and services advertised within it.

Regulars

Publisher Howard Sharron

01 Editorial

Editors Editor: James Clarke Associate Editor – Teaching & Learning: Terry White terry.white@a4le.co.uk DESIGN MANAGER: Devinder Sonsana

05 News Update What if learning was like the Olympics?

When place-based education met design thinking…

Daring by doing.

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Editorial Office Learning Spaces is published by Imaginative Minds Ltd, U205 The Jubilee Centre, 130 Pershore Street, Birmingham, B5 6ND Tel: 0121 224 7599 Fax: 0121 224 7598

Taby, Sweden

London , Birmingham Isle of Portland Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA

Email: howard@teachingtimes.com Website: www.teachingtimes.com Brisbane, Australia

Learning Spaces Global Map

2 Learning Spaces Vol 3.3

© Imaginative Minds 2017 ISSN 2043-6904.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means without the express permission of the publisher.

50

20 Featured Articles

64 50 Solution? Evolution? Or revolution?

Dr Terry Byers and Wesley Imms tell us why they believe the University of Melbourne’s ILETC research project to be critical.

20 Going up in the world Once considered little more than a stopover for flights between Australia and Europe, Singapore has reinvented itself to be now considered one of the world’s hot-list destinations. The resulting increased density in its urban planning though has led to vertical schools, just one of the topics examined at eXperience Asia: this year’s Australasia A4LE conference.

24 Making connections How an academy on the Isle of Portland off the south coast of England is building an evidence-based learning environment that reflects the experiences of pioneer schools across the globe.

46 Agent provocateur When you reject innovative teaching methods and architecturally-designed school buildings you’re being equally brave, argues Toby Young. Here he discussed with us the establishment of West London Free School in Hammersmith and the reasons behind their decisions to go ‘back to basics’ there.

60 Do learning spaces matter?

Architect, Karolina Szynalska outlines research being completed at the University of Cambridge looking to answer this question.

64 The appliance of science At US$126 million (then AU$120 million, £78 million) The Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet Campus was, when constructed in 2012, the most expensive school building in Connecticut. It went on to win the 2016 A4LE MacConnell Award so we had a chat with Jim LaPosta, the Chief Architectural Officer at JCJ about it.

74 A sense of responsibility There is now evidence, both anecdotal and empirical, that the learning environment can have a significant effect on children’s progress and development. Now it’s time to move from discussion to implementation, argues Murray Hudson, Managing Director and Chairman of Gratnells; Chairman of the British Educational Furniture Manufacturers’ Group from 2012 – 2016 and the inspiration behind the Gratnells Learning Rooms project.

Volume 3.3 Learning Spaces 3

Leckhampton C of E Primary School

“

“

The matrix is a fantastic way to benchmark where a school is in its practice.

What is Good

Leadership?

What is G ood Leadersh ip?

(WIGL)

A toolkit designed to support the £175.00 + development of leadership in primary vat schools, clearly linked to Ofsted criteria for leadership and management The ‘What is Good Leadership?’ toolkit provides a holistic approach to developing the essential leadership skills within a school. It has been developed over 5 years working with schools in a wide range of contexts and drawing on national and international research.

WIGL? is written by Heather Clements and Ann O’Hara, both highly experienced educational consultants, who have worked with experts within specific areas to ensure that the descriptors in the toolkit truly represent the best practice nationally for each role identified.

The accessible matrix format outlines a progression in the key skills of leadership, which can be used to identify and support potential leaders and new leaders, as well as to evaluate and guide the progressive development of experienced leaders. It is positive, cumulative and builds on strengths.

Users are quickly able to assess where performance sits either individually or collectively, noting strengths, and where there are gaps or aspects to improve in current practice. The WIGL supports the planning to improve practice as an individual and leadership team.

Key features: ✓✓ Constructive and developmental ✓✓ Building skills and knowledge based on clear descriptors ✓✓ Supporting self evaluation and personal development ✓✓ Supporting whole school evaluation and professional development planning ✓✓ Informing performance management and job descriptions ✓✓ Enabling a 360° view of an individual or whole school leadership team

“

The What is Good Leadership? tools provide an excellent basis for professional development, accountability, job descriptions and appraisal targets. The framework works well for me and undoubtedly the improved clarity around attributes of outstanding leadership have contributed to our recent outstanding inspection judgement.

“

Headteacher - Upton Cross School - Newham

To order please call: 0121 224 2599 Visit our website: www.teachingtimes.com

Update What Vol: 3.2if

learning was like the Olympics?

Using the principle of marginal gains, that’s the question Professor Stephen Heppell and his Learnometer team are trying to answer with a project in partnership with UK’s Jisc.

Measuring environmental factors in learning spaces, including light levels, air pressure, humidity, temperature, CO2, pollution and sound levels, Learnometers are currently being trialled in schools across the UK and the Middle East, with others in Europe, North America and Australia soon to join the trial. The team want to determine the optimum environmental conditions in which students perform at their best, and to develop strategies to help teachers

and educational leaders ensure that’s what is provided.

“Performance starts to drop noticeably, for example, when CO2 levels reach 2,000 part per million” explained Stephen, “although we’ve seen learning spaces where it’s over 5,000 before lunchtime!”

Learnometer is a project we’re watching closely, so expect to see more about it in future issues. Find out more at www.learnometer.net

When place-based education met design thinking …

Grand Rapids superintendent, Teresa Weatherall Neal, didn’t look at the schools in her district and thought the learning spaces belonged in a museum: she looked at the museum and thought a school belonged in it! And now, helped by $10 million from Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs’ XQ Super School project, that vision has become a reality. The Steelcase Foundation pitched in to help the school district too – sending over 100 of Grand Rapids’ school leaders to Harvard to learn new skills.

But it was the city museum’s visionary President and CEO, Dale Robertson, who admitted he’d always hankered after housing a school in the museum whilst running with the President of Grand Rapids School Board who just happened to be a member of the same running club as him. “Even in this digital age, we crave a physical experience” he observed, recognising that actually holding, for example, the 1862 receipt for a slave that is part of the museum’s Civil War collection, is “a visceral experience”. And since the very aim of the museum is education, what better way to fulfil that than to place a school directly within its four walls?

Grand Valley State University College of Education and Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State

University were amongst those who collaborated with the museum on the project, bringing with them expertise on place-based learning and design thinking.

“One way to think about it is in terms of activating their brains,” commented school Principal Christopher Hanks in a recent interview with USA Today. “We try to create experiences that are firing lots of neurons at the same time.” Most days, students descend the stairs from their fourth-floor base to the museum exhibits below and frequently further afield too: they use the public library rather than building one of their own; the ice-skating circle down the street is used instead of the school having its own gym. “It’s a new way of learning for young people,” continued Teresa Weatherall Neal. ”It’s very hands-on. The entire community becomes the classroom.”

XQ made ten such awards to similar Super Schools. For more information, visit www.xqsuperschool.org or, to see the video describing their project, search for Grand Rapids Museum School on YouTube.

Volume 3.3 Learning Spaces 5

News www.teachingtimes.com

Daring by doing “If you build the right science centre, that’s really about inspiration and creativity” suggests Lee Hunter, Head of Marketing Innovation at Google Asia Pacific, “then you’re going to get into the kids’ heads much easier and you’re going to get them thinking in curious ways. That creativity is critical to the future of our economy because that’s where new ideas come from”. And it’s what his alma mater, Wesley College in Perth has done with their ambitious new science centre that has just opened – one that includes a drop zone on one hand, and living walls complete with aquaponics plants climbing up them on the other. The three storey building, a Science Centre for tomorrow, includes spaces for small groups of two or three students to study in, right through to large collaborative spaces where teachers will team-teach.

The attention to detail in the building is fantastic: all the buildings services, for example, are exposed allowing learners to see the science behind the building, encouraging them to be curious whilst also contextualising the subject. Headmaster David Gee said he

6 Learning Spaces Vol 3.3

wanted students to be “enquiry-based, creative, problem seekers and problem solvers within a scientific context”.The result is a building which has been designed, specifically, for the very best learning to take place in and one where Wesley has lived up to its motto. It’s dared to do.

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The design of Learning Rooms

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At Gratnells, we’re a manufacturing organisation which provides a vital element in the landscape and environment of education. We’re part of a movement that understands how crucial the physical place of learning is to a child’s well-being, safety, sense of belonging and development. What’s more, this applies to all children, irrespective of their skills and talents.

What we do must take account of the immense diversity that is in our schools and colleges.

Together with a whole range of partners and collaborators we’ve co-developed new ideas in the application of digital technologies, in the performing arts, in outdoor learning, in all the places where teachers teach and children learn.

in g d it : Le ar n P h o to cr e

gned sp ac e d e si

b y zi o xi

“ Good school design has a positive impact on educational outcomes and can contribute to a significant uplift in academic progression.”

Better Spaces for Learning, Royal Institute of British Architects

Information and Order Hotline...

Tel: 01279 401550

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The content within this submission is protected by UK Copyright Law. Content may include original design work, photography, video and animation and remains the copyright of Walters Snowdon Advertising Ltd (incorporating Tregartha Dinnie) and cannot be used or reproduced without the authorisation of the above company.

Part of WSA

g spac e d e s ig n

Showcase – Neuroscience www.teachingtimes.com

Light, bright and white I

Neuroscientist, Dr Tim Holmes saw, in Swedish school, Brinkskolan, design detailing he was more familiar with in retail interiors. Here he tells us what first captivated him about the school and why he feels we can learn a thing or two from it. t’s a long time since I went to school and sat in a classroom that was characterised by rows of desks, rolling blackboards and some dingy notice boards around the walls that were gradually populated by examples of work we produced throughout the term.

It was the 1970’s in fact. Given the advances we’ve made in understanding how the human brain responds to its environment and uses cues from all the senses to cement learning in long-term memory it’s surprising to me as a neuroscientist that many classrooms still haven’t progressed beyond this set-up. After all, if we look at the commercial world, and retail in particular, the application of psychology, technology and neuroscience is everywhere, creating worlds that people don’t just want to enter, but want to linger in, explore and interact with.

8 Learning Spaces Volume 3:3

Showcase – Neuroscience www.teachingtimes.com

Volume 3:3 Learning Spaces 9

Showcase – Neuroscience www.teachingtimes.com

As a researcher and consultant on the neuroscience of retail design it occurred to me that by thinking of students as consumers of education, the classroom environment could also be evaluated, and ultimately optimised, in terms of its ability to focus attention and encourage student interaction and engagement using some of the principles that work so effectively in the shopping mall. As part of a recent project to attempt just that, which I completed with Spaceoasis and which was shown at BETT this year, I stumbled across a remarkable example of what good design can achieve in a learning space in Sweden: welcome to Brinkskolan.

On an archipelago, 20 kilometres north of Stockholm and surrounded by trees, Brinkskolan already benefits from a preferential location, and the designers have certainly taken full advantage of that

10 Learning Spaces Volume 3:3

Showcase – Neuroscience www.teachingtimes.com

with large windows and skylights that bring the outside in and maximise natural light.

Natural light has long been established in promoting wellbeing and alertness both of which are highly correlated with positive learning outcomes. The availability of natural light throughout the interior of the school is essential to its success in a location where average daytime highs are sub-zero for a quarter of the year and daylight hours are as low as 6 hours per day in the winter months. Those big windows do more than let light in of course, they provide visual access to the wooded environment outside. Natural environments have been shown to decrease stress and improve learning, so if a student IS going to gaze out of the window during class, there’s a strong case for giving them something natural to look at.

Volume 3:3 Learning Spaces 11

Showcase – Neuroscience www.teachingtimes.com

Of course, not every school has the opportunity to provided wooded views from each window, and it’s the interior design of Brinkskolan where things get really interesting.

Throughout the school, white is used to provide a uniform look and feel that is both modern and clean. But white can be a very institutional and sterile colour, and so extensive use is made of bold colour accents which highlight the many customised zones for personal reflection, joint briefings, collaborative and creative work. This use of colour serves several functions: ■■ Green is used throughout the ground floor to link the inside to the outside providing

continuity and, together with the use of natural woods, continues to provide those naturalistic cues that are beneficial to learning.

■■ The brightly coloured zones draw attention to the areas where learning, collaboration and play actually happen, rather than the corridors and paths that link them. This in turn reinforces the function of these zones as the attention of passing students is involuntarily drawn to them by the salient colours ensuring that see how they’re being used by their peers ■■ The colours clearly delineate the zones without the need for walls or other dividers in many cases leaving the spaces open and students feeling safe at all times.

Perhaps most importantly, the colour provides an element of fun to the environment, reducing the austerity of the plain white walls and encouraging the students to explore and engage with the spaces.

12 Learning Spaces Volume 3:3

Showcase – Neuroscience www.teachingtimes.com

Volume 3:3 Learning Spaces 13

Showcase – Neuroscience www.teachingtimes.com

The minimal use of walls to delineate zones associated with different types of interaction brings with it another benefit, which is the freedom for the students to move items around and influence their own space. Research in office spaces has shown that this can be hugely influential in increasing emotional wellbeing and productivity, and this

14 Learning Spaces Volume 3:3

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is not just a factor of having a nice space to work in, it’s directly a consequence of the users’ ability to contribute to the selection and arrangement of elements in that space. The classrooms themselves are not structured around regimental rows of desks and can be easily adapted to form configurations that facilitate group work as well as independent study. The uncluttered environments provide good lines of sight for both teacher and pupils alike which is important for maintaining attention, since we naturally orientate towards a speaker to enable us to use facial cues to aid

Volume 3:3 Learning Spaces 15

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16 Learning Spaces Volume 3:3

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comprehension. The flexibility of the seating enables the students to become the focal point of attention in the classroom just as easily as it does the teacher.

Practical consideration has also been given to storing students’ personal effects, with brightly coloured open lockers that have been designed to store bags, bike helmets and shoes. As with everything in Brinkskolan the emphasis is on openness that in turn provides a feeling of safety which is fundamental to the school’s ethos. Even the library has shelves the students can look over. This emphasis on safety directly addresses a major source of stress and inattention in young children who are learning to be away from home and the protection of parents for the first time. This feeling of safety in the school environment is further reinforced by the no shoe policy. By mimicking the shoe removal behaviour from “coming home” the school unconsciously triggers those associations at the start of each day. Research has suggested that removal of footwear is correlated with improvements in memory encoding and recall, but it also reduces noise levels which can negatively impact concentration and learning by increasing stress levels.

When Starbucks began its worldwide domination of the coffee shop market they adopted a guiding a principle that was to be everyone’s 3rd space – a concept that originates with Ray Oldenburg and relates to a space that is neither home (1st space) nor work (2nd space). It is the space where people seek refuge from the other two

Volume 3:3 Learning Spaces 17

Showcase – Neuroscience www.teachingtimes.com

Dr Tim Holmes is a neuroscientist and is Technical Director at Acuity Intelligence.

Architect: LINK arkitektur Photography: Hundven-Clements

18 Learning Spaces Volume 3:3

places and so they come to it for pleasure, relaxation and physical and mental rejuvenation. Starbucks were astoundingly successful in achieving this and customer loyalty duly followed.

For the children of Brinkskolan school is their 2nd space, and as such it the design cannot go as far as coffee shop in mimicking the comfortable trappings of home, because the environment needs to communicate to the students that they are there to learn. But that doesn’t mean it should adhere to a traditional “institutional aesthetic”, because research shows that we are hard wired to respond to good design and might even be predisposed as a specie to seek it out in order to experience a release of pleasure enhancing neuro-chemicals in the brain. If a school is visually appealing, students will want to be inside and will want to come back. The award winning design of Brinkskolan with its quirky play areas, bright open spaces and bold use of shape and colour most definitely communicate good design as well as the safety needed for an effective early learning environment making the school a destination that students want to be in and as any retailer will tell you, this is the first step to selling the product education.

As seen and acclaimed on Teachers TV Primary CPD Resources.

!

?

?*

?

Thinking Together

*

A programme of lessons and activities for developing KS2 children’s communication and critical thinking skills

By Lyn Dawes, Neil Mercer and Rupert Wegerif In today’s full curriculum, there is only so much time teachers can devote to the teaching of language and reasoning skills.

Thinking Together has been specifically designed to develop these skills across the KS2 curriculum.

The book is presented as a series of structured lesson plans to help teachers initiate and build upon a programme that can be adapted for use in every subject area.

This is an excellent guide for teachers who may never have taught thinking skills before. All of the ideas and materials have been successfully trialled in UK schools, and standards have been raised as a result.

• Talk lesson plans, which encourage children to reason and collaborate together • An assessment section, with suggested ways for pupils to assess their own progress • An ICT skills focus – particularly useful for setting up links with other schools

Ideal for introducing at the start of term, the book suggests ways of creating an ethos of cooperation within the classroom.

An invaluable resource for developing thinking skills at KS2

Thinking Together offers the following:

Price £22.95

• Photocopiable activity sheets to support group work

!

• Curriculum links to: English, Maths, Science, Geography, Environmental Education and Citizenship - all outlined in a useful table

Order Hotline: 0121 224 7599 or visit www.teachingtimesbookshop.co.uk

Conference – Learning Environments Australasia www.teachingtimes.com

Going up in the world

Once considered little more than a stopover for flights between Australia and Europe, Singapore has reinvented itself to be now considered one of the world’s hot-list destinations. The resulting increased density in its urban planning though has led to vertical schools, just one of the topics examined at eXperience Asia: this year’s Australasia A4LE conference.

F

or the first time in 10 years, Learning Environments Australasia’s annual regional conference returns to Singapore – often seen as the gateway to Asia. Having the conference back there provides a great opportunity to share inspirational projects taking place in the region, reinforcing the important fact

20 Learning Spaces Volume 3:3

Conference – Learning Environments Australasia www.teachingtimes.com

And as the title suggests, the conference aims to focus on the learning experience in Asia – the issues and challenges that are relevant to the region. Four key themes will be explored: density and urban schools; learning experiences transforming lives; collaboration & community and technology & innovation. The impressive line-up of speakers includes some of the leading thinkers, designers, educators, strategists and academics from inside and outside of Asia, including winner of the 2013 TED Prize and Professor at England’s Newcastle University, Sugata Mitra, Bunker Roy and Meagan Fallone of India’s Barefoot College, Singapore Management University’s Professor Arnoud de Meyer, Ayesha Khanna the of artificial intelligence advisory firm and incubator, ADDO, and Dr Gog Soon Joo of SkillsFuture Singapore. Conference delegates will also have the opportunity to tour some of Singapore’s most innovative learning spaces, as well as attend workshops about the cutting edge issues facing learning institutions and environments.

that learning experiences do transform lives and that schools can be agents of change. Organised by LEA’s Singapore Chapter, eXperience Asia will be held from July 12-14 at Marina Bay Sands and explores the latest in innovative learning space design, education and technology.

Volume 3:3 Learning Spaces 21

Conference – Learning Environments Australasia www.teachingtimes.com

In the past decade, there has been significant developments in the education landscape in Singapore, especially in the tertiary sector. New universities are being built including the new Singapore University of Technology (SUTD) which is a collaboration between Singapore and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. Collaboration is the new buzzword, as learning institutions forge greater links with the industry, to create closer relationships between Academia and Industry. What spaces encourage collaboration? What is the relationship between the school and the city? These are some of the questions which will be discussed and explored at the conference.

Singapore, as well as many other cities in Asia such as Hong Kong and Mumbai, is really starting to feel the consequences of the scarcity of land which has resulted in the need to have vertical schools. Many schools in Singapore have 6-7 storey high buildings whilst the School of the Arts (SOTA), situated right in the heart of the city, is more than 10-storeys high. High-rise schools are starting to emerge too in Australia, with exemplars currently being developed in Sydney, Adelaide and

22 Learning Spaces Volume 3:3

Melbourne. So there will be a discussion on vertical schools at the conference, through a comparative study of the high-rise schools in Singapore, Adelaide and Melbourne, followed by a case study presentation on the high-rise school in Sydney in one of the mini sessions. Delegates will learn more about the operational challenges of vertical schools and the various innovative design strategies which contribute to creating new high-rise school typologies for urban centres.

Various national initiatives in Singapore such as the Smart Nation (leveraging technology to improve lives) and SkillsFuture (a coordinated effort to promote lifelong learning) aim to develop a highly skilled, tech-savvy workforce. So the conference will also examine the emerging technological disruptions and trends and how these impact the way we think about learning for the future.

Learning Environments Australasia is the leading body in the region advocating for quality and innovation in learning environments. Their membership consists of over 700 architects, designers, educators, planners and policy makers throughout Asia Pacific.

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i-WIGT

(What Is Good Teaching?)

The i-WIGT is a collaborative teacher mentoring and appraisal App that is both a diagnostic and intervention tool to secure better teaching.

This iPad-based App is transforming the whole teacher appraisal/mentoring process in schools. It has two unique features – an assessment matrix which unpicks the skills of good and outstanding teaching, and a link to thousands of best practice articles so that emerging problems and development areas can be resourced directly from the App.

ì

It also has a self-evaluation module so that teachers can review their own practice and use our Best Practice Library from our Professional Learning Community to pursue their own developmental strategy.

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Find out more at: www.i-wigt.com

Easy to use, confidential and secure, the i-WIGT will help your school to provide: ■■

Objective and fair teacher performance observations in real time

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Accurate, consistent and useable feedback for your teachers

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Clear paths for teachers towards outstanding, creative teaching

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A transparent performance-related pay practice

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Trackable data for each teacher as well as by subject, year group and more

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Teacher self-assessment to encourage reflective practice

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Areas for teachers to evidence their work by uploading images and videos

“We are encouraging our schools to use the i-WIGT as it is a natural progression from the WIGT, which has been used for many years in West Berkshire schools. The i-WIGT provides an excellent and highly efficient system to observe and evaluate the quality of teaching and learning linked to performance management and, through the links with the Imaginative Minds Best Practice Library, offers immediate access to a range of articles to support professional development.”

Elaine Ricks-Neal, Jt. Principal Adviser for School Improvement, West Berkshire Council

W: www.teachingtimes.com

ì

E: enquiries@imaginativeminds.co.uk

Case study – Innovation & Research www.teachingtimes.com

Making connections How an academy on the Isle of Portland off the south coast of England is building an evidence-based learning environment that reflects the experiences of pioneer schools across the globe.

24 Learning Spaces Volume 3.3

Case study – Innovation & Research www.teachingtimes.com

The Year 5/6 Learning Zone on Portland, in Dorset, England, is a suite of complementary and connected learning spaces designed to meet the needs of students for 21st century learning and for staff to work more collaboratively in learning teams in order to achieve the Academy’s unique vision for learning. Here, Terry White, who was what he refers to as the ‘learning-led’ Design Advisor for the project (and is also a UK Director of A4LE) outlines the process they employed and shares the results.

Portland is an all-through academy: it’d be referred to as a K-12 school in America – a single institution catering for learners throughout their whole formal education without the need to change from junior to senior schools. Located on the Isle of Portland, it was formed from the amalgamation of the island’s secondary school with five of the primary schools, who have relocated into a refurbished and reconfigured former Ministry of Defence building known as Maritime House, situated on an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) in a mixed-use development that includes housing and an adjacent hotel. The design includes features detailed to support and encourage learners in developing and

Volume 3.3 Learning Spaces 25

Case study – Innovation & Research www.teachingtimes.com

maturing their learning skills as they prepare for the next phase of their education. Fundamental to the pedagogy, organisation and design of the learning spaces, was the importance of: ■■ students being better known and supported -

throughout their learning lives, ■■ making their learning personal - minimising the limits on their progress ■■ using an enquiry and project based approach ■■ embedding as much learning science as possible into the design.

The Big Picture Through consultation and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders including local headteachers, parents as well as the wider community and over a period of several years a vision started to evolve that sought to encourage all students to achieve success and be fully engaged in their learning.

“If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow” John Dewey

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Stakeholders wanted to make all learning on Portland outstanding and to create an exceptional, world class school. There was widespread agreement that the existing system of education was not working for the young people of Portland and ’more of the same’ was not an option for the new academy.

Central to this vision is the provision of continuous learning from ages 3-19 in an inclusive, nurturing, ambitious and secure school environment. The new learning environments, therefore, needed to be designed to offer consistency in teaching, learning, care and support, throughout the students’ learning experiences at the academy. It is recognised, and research in the UK consistently confirms, that for many students there is a “dip” in learning outcomes on transfer from the Primary to Secondary phase and a new organisational structure needed to be in place to remove the ‘artificial divide’ and lack of continuity and progression that occurs. This approach was also seen as critical in improving the collective understanding and professional knowledge of teaching and support staff about the key approaches to teaching and learning required at each stage of a student’s school career.

Case study – Innovation & Research www.teachingtimes.com

A further key consideration of the initial planning group was that research was starting to indicate that larger schools should be broken down into smaller learning communities where students could be better known and supported throughout their time within a school. For example, a survey commissioned by Teach First, a UK social enterprise charity, entitled “Lessons from the Front”, had already established concern that schools should be divided into smaller learning communities to overcome the depersonalising tendencies of traditional structures. The report concluded that, “small learning communities would ensure that every pupil was known as an individual, making it harder for pupils to fall under the radar”. As far back as 1999 the educational resources Information centre (ERIC) was summarising a swathe of research as thus: “A great deal of research suggests that smaller schools contribute to student achievement, attainment, and sense of well-being… To capture some of the benefits of small-scale schooling, educators are increasingly looking for ways to downsize, including dividing large schools into subschools or subunits.”

The heritage on the Isle of Portland is strong and intergenerational, but these values had not previously been celebrated or built on: the community wanted to play a more dynamic and engaged role in shaping education on the island.

Parents too wanted to be able to come into school to engage in the learning spaces: to observe and to understand and support their child’s learning.

Closed doors did little to encourage this though: they felt that more open and connected spaces would allow them to have a greater involvement with their children’s learning, and also to engage with teachers.

This research and consultation, together with dialogue and the observation of effective good practice, an education model with the following key characteristics was adopted for the new academy at Maritime House: ■■ All-through learning ■■ Schools within schools ■■ Enquiry and project based learning ■■ Technology rich learning approaches ■■ Team based approaches to teaching and learning ■■ Personalised learning and student engagement ■■ Quality environments for learning.

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Collabrative learning in the Pathfinder space.

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The Journey However, it was also recognised that introducing this new approach to learning would be an educational journey; the research, planning and development would need to start well before the move into the new facilities at Maritime House and that to deliver the full vision for all students would take time - a transition programme over the first two or three years of opening would be inevitable. Therefore, the delivery of this new educational model would be implemented only up to Key Stage 3 (age 14) in the September 2016 opening while the remaining programmes of study for current learners continuing on more traditional lines.

That said, the full development and implementation of the new model was expected to grow over time - once learners and staff had begun working in the new building and that this would need to be fully communicated to learners, staff, parents and the community.

From this, a design brief detailed the key strands of the project, requiring there to be appropriate learning environments including a range of specialist and non-specialist spaces, re-configurable learning areas and spaces to allow transition to the new learning approach, over time for all learners.

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like; Design is how it works�

Steve Jobs

Library Pathfinder space.

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“Meaningful school reform starts with your most powerful partner – your students! When you take time to listen, you’ll find that students’ aspirations can drive your school toward exciting new goals –when students know they’re being heard, they engage meaningfully in their own academic success.”

Russell Quaglia President, Aspirations Academies Trust.

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Library Pathfinder space.

“I would love to be in a classroom like this makes you want to work as its different and exciting” Learner, Year 9

How did they get there?

The journey started in 2014 with a Pathfinder Group of learners, teachers and consultants focusing on the then Year 5/6 (age 9-10) learners who researched and documented primary good practice to build on the development of their vision for the new all-though academy. This would ensure that the pedagogy, organisation and design of the transition learning spaces would create a strong foundation for progression in Years 7/8/9 (age 11-14).

So the library area of the predecessor secondary school was remodelled as a Pathfinder Space in order to test out the intended new approaches, as well as informing the design of the new spaces at Maritime House and over a period of a year, workshop and design engagement activities were set up with Primary and Secondary students to determine their views on the merits and value of providing a range and choice of differing learning and teaching spaces, equipment and furniture.

This was also the Pathfinder learning and teaching space for the Year 5/6 group, for duration of the academic year.

Initial student feedback was positive and very clear: they really valued having an appropriate range of furniture and a variety of working spaces from which to select, enabling each individual to choose the most appropriate space to meet their learning goals, learning styles and learning activities.

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“It’s a really cool idea of a way of working and I would like it if all our classrooms were like this” Learner, Year 6

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So teachers and students, together with the design team, went on to test out a variety of furniture and equipment looking at comfort, ease of movement (people and furniture), ease of regrouping and configuration to create individual and/or collaborative learning spaces. The space was also tried out for its capacity to be a venue for project launches and celebrations. During this year, the Pathfinder staff team constantly reviewed their day-to-day organisational needs in leading and facilitating the learning and teaching of all of the year 5/6 students in this space and it was also made available for other teachers to experience teaching older students for examination subject programmes. The space became valued and appreciated by staff who used it, frequently choosing it for staff training and meeting sessions whilst parents and carers too found it an inviting and comfortable space; they were constantly visiting to discuss, observe and support, learning activities.

■■ Problem

Solving ■■ Decision making ■■ Effective risk taking ■■ Creativity ■■ Active participation ■■ Team-working ■■ Valuing partnerships ■■ Determination ■■ Self-reliance ■■ Responsible actions ■■ Resilience ■■ Skills for digital learning

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Project based learning in the Pathfinder space.

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“It’s wonderful to see the children so confident in their learning space.

Pockets of learning going on around the space was a delight to watch. I wish school looked like this when I was younger” Parent

Portland Design Process ■■ Agree

a collective vision for change ■■ Develop the evidence base for the new model ■■ Plan and engage for ‘Cultural Shift’ ■■ Create a test bed for change ■■ Establish the learning- lad design brief for the new model ■■ Plan for effective transition to new learning model ■■ Develop every space as a learning space ■■ Optimise the physical environmental conditions for exceptional learning.

■■ Align the design with organisation, curriculum delivery and assessment.

■■ Detail design of learning spaces in each learning zone

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This study ensured the ultimate selection of the most appropriate items of furniture some of which, such as the tiered seating, was specifically designed and manufactured for the school as it was felt that commercially available alternatives did not fulfil everything the school wanted of them.

The configuration of the new spaces to be created at Maritime House and the furniture that was specified for it had therefore been thoroughly tried and tested whilst ensuring that all stakeholders had contributed to, and taken part in, the design and development of the learning space.

Transferring the Pathfinder Design to Maritime House Incorporating both the pedagogical approach, and that of staff and learner organisation that would need to be translated through the design into the form and function of all of the learning spaces, the design brief therefore included the requirement for a range and blend of closed, semi open and open-connected spaces.

In the more connected and collaborative spaces where team teaching and more diverse personal choices around learning would take place high levels of acoustic treatment were incorporated into the walls and ceilings whilst furniture was used to further sub divide and create a wide range of “places” within “larger spaces”. The design team were determined that the often overcrowding of students in small classroom spaces, where movement was restricted and where classrooms as the only

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learning experience could often become too hot, not having appropriate levels of ventilation, air quality or light would not be part of the daily experience of students and staff. Optimising the light levels, CO2, heat and sound levels has been a fundamental task and it is remarkable how far from optimal many school “boxed” designs are. These optimal levels - bright light, cool air, quiet sounds, minimal CO2 are at the heart of producing the best possible engagement and performance. This detailed aggregation of marginal gains perhaps mirrors the detailed approach at the Island’s Olympic Sailing Sports Centre. As the Academy’s initial lead sponsor, and then patron, Professor Stephen Heppell comments “If learning was the Olympics, all schools would look and function a lot more like this one; it can work so very well.”

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MakerSpace

Double learning space

Connected learning spaces

Tiered seating

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“As a team leader, having clear sightlines can make sure that the quality of teaching and learning that is taking place is of a high standard. I can see the pace of lessons, the quality of the inputs that are taking place and can ensure that the learning team are constantly monitoring and developing appropriate interventions to move learners on.�

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Pedagogy & curriculum The evolving curriculum at Portland has a focus on the knowledge and the core functional skills that all students will need to develop to support their growing achievement, abilities and aspirations.

Emphasis is placed on ensuring that students are better known as individuals and that the importance of their physical and emotional development, including their health and well-being, is addressed as part of their daily learning experience. Students are required to take personal accountability for their learning and to analyse how they can improve and develop their approach, and transfer knowledge and skills across all of their areas of study.

The approach to learning and teaching, too, is highly personalised, with students studying at their own pace and striving for the best possible individual goals on a ‘stage not age’ basis. Whilst focusing on student achievement, learning would also be creative, relevant, celebratory and would contribute to an atmosphere where students enjoy learning together. The importance of collaborative learning, student voice, enquiry and project based approaches all supported by ICT are felt to be central to raising learner aspirations.

Collaborative working in connected spaces.

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Where is the school now?

The learning for students in Years 5/6 on Portland is showing real improvement with personal progress in all areas of their life, work and achievement within their new environments for learning. Collaborative leadership, motivational and relevant topics of study, enhanced by access to technology, are resulting in high levels of learner engagement and bringing the much needed and desired transformation, as evidenced in a wider range of positive learning outcomes for all.

The hope is that the academy will continue to build on the strength of its vision and the current success of its Primary Transition model now being delivered for Years 5/6. The important process of engaging learners, making their learning personal, is being supported by staff who can team teach, collaborate, imagine and create together, to achieve improved learning outcomes for all students whilst the design of a suite of complementary and connected learning spaces, providing a wider and more extended environment for learning and teaching, is seen as central to the continuing success of the year 5/6 Transition zone.

Portland has created environments which are actively promoting the joy of learning and giving young people an attitude which will see them ‘wanting to learn’ as a positive habit for the rest of their lives. Boxes and corridors would have struggled to provide the necessary adaptability and flexibility that modern learning requires. Learning environments today, need to be designed to encourage collaboration, enable personalised approaches and create a range of spaces for individual group and whole class teaching. Spaces need to be, flexible, dynamic, creative and able to respond to the variety of skills, qualities and approaches that are now needed for successful learning. Team teaching is a powerful way to achieve rapid staff development and an agile, high quality teaching staff. There is a need for larger and more connected spaces where learners can enquire, make personal choices as to where, when and how to learn, facilitated by staff working in learning teams.

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Reflections from Terry My post occupancy work in the Year 5/6 Learning Zone on Portland reflects observations in schools who have developed similar approaches both in the UK and abroad: ■■ that the quality of the students day to day

experience of “school” is enriched ■■ that there are improved all-round learning gains for students ■■ that there are improved all-round learning gains for staff ■■ that this comes about due to working together in the wider range of spaces that can be created and structured in these extended learning environments.

Teachers working in this Learning Zone on Portland are clear that: “children having their own responsibility to lead their learning, is greatly improving the quality of their work. They achieve much higher outcomes than may be otherwise possible in a more traditional and restricted learning environment.” The students feel that: “it’s a very cool way of working”,“it makes you feel relaxed”,“I actually want to come to school.” Parents comment they see their children working in very confident ways in the spaces and comment that the open and connected range of spaces makes it much easier for them to become engaged in dialogue, support and observation around their children’s learning.

The success in learning gains is further validated through external data on Maths, recorded by the Wimborne Teaching School.“All students working in the collaborative space have made at least one year of progress across two terms. Sixty-eight percent of all students working in this space have made two years progress or more.”

I believe that the current organisation of learning - in the complementary suite of spaces in this learning zone - is ensuring that the vision for meeting the 21st century needs of young learners on Portland, is being developed on a sound and successful foundation.

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“What’s

different about this school is that teachers trust you, they allow you to try things out ,fail and fail again .This helps us get better so much quicker, we are not afraid of getting things wrong” Jacob, Year 6

“I love learning in our extra special spaces-it’s not like a normal classroom .We have so much more choice and we can tell our teachers how to make the space better, the best thing is…..they actually listen!”

Emma, Year 6

In September of 2017 the school will become part of the Aspirations Trust Group of schools. It is understood that there are proposals to redesign this school on Portland including the successful Year 5/6 transition zone.

Terry White terry.white@a4le.co.uk Architect: AHR Construction: Wates Photography: Fotohaus

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