Green, not mean

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Ty Goddard, Director of the British Council for School Environments, emphasises a focus on pupil and staff participation in design and construction if better schools in both quality and environment are to be built.

Education has undergone many changes over recent decades, but it is clear that a host of developments have combined to forever change the idea of what a new or refurbished school should look like. Current Best Practice in teaching is obviously very different to even 25 – let alone 125 – years ago. The ubiquitous role of ICT in education has obvious design implications. The Government also envisages a generation of schools that will be at the heart of communities while linking up much more closely with health and social services.

The Building Schools for the Future programme is investing record amounts of around £45bn in transforming Britain's school estate – with the private sector heavily involved in both funding and delivering the new schools. It is vital that all parties understand exactly what the new generation of schools should deliver for pupils, teachers and the wider community. Additionally, it is only right that those designing schools take account of environmental issues – global warming was hardly a concern when the Victorians introduced mass education.

The British Council for School Environments (BCSE) has published a manifesto, which will hopefully crystallise the key issues and ensure that all parties are singing from the same hymn sheet.

The manifesto has seven core areas that all partners need to address, and provides strategies for change in order to help in that process (see box).

If time is not invested in considering these core principles, there is a real danger we will end up with schools that are obsolete before they open their doors. Last year, a report by the Government's building design advisers, CABE, found that half of new schools are of poor design quality. Crucially, the manifesto is intended to be a 'living' document, and we want to hear ideas from all those involved in creating new schools.

With 84% of the school estate built before 1976, it is hardly a surprise that many buildings are not ideal for teaching and learning. The new schools must clearly, for example, provide classrooms equipped for today's ICT. Less obviously, perhaps, they should also provide informal spaces where children and young people can follow independent study and learn social skills by interacting with each other, being more suitable for lessons around citizenship. Personalising learning means personalising space.

At the same time, the new facilities will need to address the Government's drive to bring health, social care, and police into schools, or at least nearby. That ambition is outlined in Every Child Matters and Sure Start guidelines. Integrating services will have implications for spaces in our schools.

All this is a tall order and can only realistically be achieved by embracing another of our core principles – involving teachers, heads, pupils, parents and, indeed, the wider community at all stages.

Those who use a learning environment are the real experts and involving them in the design and equipping of a school building will ensure that the building is effective. Users can be involved in all aspects of the decision-making process – from decisions on site, design and room layout, to educational equipment, fixtures and fittings.

As well as drawing on their very real expertise, teachers and their pupils are likely to feel a sense of ownership and a desire to make it work if they are involved throughout the process.

Teachers know which resources will best suit the needs of their pupils and it is easier to refine the design of an environment to cater for changing requirements if people have been involved throughout the process. Understanding the school's priorities will also make it easier to ensure value for money is achieved.

Similarly, lessons need to be learnt from the procurement process used in the first three waves of PFI for schools. The CABE report noted that the process did not deliver to school users the top quality facilities that our architects, construction companies and resources industry are quite capable of achieving. The current procurement process can lead to the loss of creative ideas developed by unsuccessful bidders and also limits the time tenderers can spend talking to those who use the schools.

It is hoped that changes there will boost design quality. Every child has a right to learn in a safe, healthy environ-ment, and yet inappropriate or poor quality chairs and desks mean that half of school children report back pain at some time. Quality design is not an optional extra that can be discarded at the first budget squeeze; it affects children's ability to focus and learn, and impacts on educational achievement and quality of life.

Since such a large part of building new schools is a creative matter, those involved should hopefully welcome another of our totems: tested innovation.

We should learn from both our successes and our failures, as well as from abroad. Those involved in school design, product design and teaching should together constantly question the status quo in education facilities.

And as ever, the question of size arises in this programme. It is accepted in educational circles that the move from small primaries to secondary schools, which seem gargantuan to many young people, affects children's academic progress and can be very stressful. That is surely an argument for des-igning schools that, despite having many more pupils, provide something of a small school culture.

Lurking in the background to all this, however, is the issue of sustainability and the environment. Schools are res-ponsible for 14% of all public sector emissions. As well as ensuring the new buildings are as environmentally-friendly as possible, new schools could provide very relevant examples of sustainability in lessons and interest the wider community in sustainability issues.

Green, not mean, with a focus on participation by end-users in the design and construction process and genuine quality – these are the aspirations we must meet to ensure we build better schools for the future.

August 2007 saw the publication of the Education and Skills Select Committee report 'Sustainable schools: Are we building schools for the future?', which echoed many of the issues flagged in the Manifesto. The report highlighted concerns about the use of resources, the procurement and funding mechanisms, post-occupancy evaluation of new buildings and the involvement of learners and teachers in the design and build process.

We now hope to see a shift in emphasis, as the mere delivery of buildings is not enough. We need the creation of effective local learning environments that inspire young people, celebrate school staff and embrace lifelong learners and community users – these are the buildings needed for schools for the future.