VIEWS & OPINION
An education for all Comment by SAM WARNES, former teacher and founder of EDLounge
By law, children must attend school. This is not up for debate. Yet for some young people, school can seem like a dark abyss, perhaps because they’re being bullied, can’t engage with learning or have anxiety about the classroom – as a result, they might begin avoiding school altogether. We need to ensure that all young people receive the education they need, so how can we reach all students, including those who are struggling to engage with school? There are two main reasons why students might not be at school –
truancy and exclusion. Although there is often the perception that these students are “naughty”, often it’s rarely that simple. Recent figures have shown a rise in the number of exclusions from school
over the past few years, often due to persistent disruptive behaviour, and truancy is observed among students from various backgrounds. As teachers, we must work with these students to rebuild their engagement with learning, and their trust in mainstream education. But how can we do this? Firstly, speak to the student. This may seem obvious, but how often do
we, as teachers, spend time having in-depth discussions with our students? When students begin to disappear from the classroom, having a discussion with them about what’s causing them to avoid school can help to resolve the problem, providing the support they need to get them back on track. Making education relevant and giving students ownership of their
learning is also important. Young people have a seemingly inherent need to understand the purpose of learning. Therefore, we need to make subjects relevant to the real-world and about more than just reading from textbooks,
as when students understand that their learning is meaningful, they will engage far better. In addition, students need to be given responsibility and feel empowered in the classroom; encourage them to learn and to fail, and to work towards their goals, as this will reinforce the value of learning. The proliferation of ed tech is helping teachers to engage students, track
their progress and adjust their provision accordingly. There are platforms available that offer all students the opportunity to access learning online that adapt to their ability and academic needs in ways unlike ever before. For those students who are unable to attend school at present, virtual
learning platforms allow schools to continue delivering lessons to support these students from afar, while simultaneously working to re-engage them with mainstream education. Teachers can also live video stream with these students in a safeguarded online environment and deliver homework tasks; all of which ensure the student can access a comprehensive education while not in school. Whether a student has been excluded from school or, for personal
reasons, is struggling to attend, the result is the same: there is a child away from the classroom who still needs to access an education. While teachers can work hard to prevent this from happening (after all, the ideal situation is to have all students enjoying learning in the classroom), the reality is that, unfortunately, there will most likely always be students who struggle to remain in school. But by working to ensure these students can still access learning, when their issues have been addressed and they return to the classroom, they can learn well and, most importantly, enjoy learning!
Spring Budget reaction: To meet our schools building challenge, we need more than an investment in repairs Comment by GAVIN WHITE, Schools Sector Lead and Director, Ramboll UK
The Government's Spring Budget saw the announcement of an extra £260m in funding to tackle the backlog of maintenance in our schools. While this is obviously a welcome investment, the fact of the matter is that it is not nearly enough to tackle the real problem. We have a growing population putting more pressure on schools, schools that have historically been underfunded and have lacked priority in capital funding. The extra money will just about cover the essential maintenance aspects, but still does not enable our schools to look forward and spend the money investing in improvements that will allow them to keep moving forward. What would really make a difference is if the government was to move
away from bare minimum upkeep, and start thinking more strategically about schools development. Would the money be better off spent investing in new facilities? I believe the majority would be. To date the Education Funding Agency has been focussed on standardisation of schools on a macro level – that is ‘mega-block designs’ and the like. What is really needed is a real mix of macro and micro level standardisation. We should look at where standardisation can aid speed of delivery and education outcomes. But we also need to make sure that the new education estates can respond to the site context. Too often this is forgotten. The current approach of going for very low area costs is not producing
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schools that will last the test of time. We need to radically rethink this – not only does the budget need to increase but we, as an industry, need to look towards developing a more standardised approach to building our schools, which will be vital in realising essential cost savings. As highlighted in the Farmer Review, we are facing on unprecedented shift in the construction workforce. We rely heavily on overseas workers for construction and maintenance, and the viability of this workforce after Brexit is unknown. However this risk could become an opportunity for the industry to advance our capability. Offsite construction has surely got to play a significant role in this. Getting the industry to the point where we can efficiently design and build standardised units (such as toilet areas, science classrooms etc) or standardised mega-blocks, will enable future investments to go further. And where better to do this than in the education estate that will teach the future of the country. The challenge is clear; we need to rapidly deliver more schools, and do
so within a smaller budget, but we also need to improve the quality of these buildings. While the Government’s investment is enabling necessary repairs, it is not enough to develop the platform for efficient and sustainable education buildings of the future. With new technologies and building formats we have the opportunity to invest in developing a system that will enable us to build better buildings, but this cannot happen without investment and initiative from the Government.
April 2017
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