16


schools in focus SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT


As approaches to teaching change, so must the learning environment to accommodate these changes. CARRIE SERVICE looks at the effect a classroom space can have on how lessons are delivered and whether or not it can really make a difference to pupil performance


come as no surprise, then, that schools are making use of this concept and using colour and other innovations within the classroom to infl uence how children work.


W april 2013 \ www.edexec.co.uk


SHAKING IT UP Many contemporary new-build schools have begun to play with the traditional classroom layout in recent years. Schools, such as the RSA Academy in Tipton, try to limit the amount of classrooms that encompass the ‘industrial’ design, that is, the teacher stood fi rmly at the front of the classroom and the students sat in


e all know that our


surrounding environment can infl uence our behaviour, inhibiting or improving our ability to relax or concentrate on the task in hand. It should


lines facing ahead. Instead the academy – like many others – has opted to install more fl uid spaces, with sliding doors to split a large classroom into two and desks on wheels so that they can easily be moved around, linking into a circle for group discussions or separated out for solitary working. At the RSA Academy, the teacher is expected to spend more time circulating the room and interacting with students than sat at the front – which is why many classrooms in the school only have a lectern at the back of the class and are devoid of a teacher’s desk altogether. This is a design concept that Professor Erica McWilliam, an internationally recognised scholar in the fi eld of pedagogical innovation, champions. At a Girls’ Day School Trust event last year, she spoke about the infl uence of environment on learning and how schools should be more forward-thinking about classroom design.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52