Talking Learning and Teaching

Members of the 'expert' panel to the BCSE Great Schools Enquiry

I was flattered to be invited to contribute as a 'witness' to the Teaching and Learning Expert Seminar yesterday in Birminghame as part of the BCSE Great Schools Enquiry. Chaired by Baroness Estelle Morris, every effort is being made as to identify what makes a great school and at the end make appropriate recommendations.

A panel of just ten of us, representing a number of backgrounds, responded and shared views on issues about learning and teaching, great schools and the impact of environments, in the session cleverly chaired by Jenny Thomas of BCSE.

Whilst I deal with these sort of issues regularly, it was really refreshing to be able to just sit and share/discuss views in a totally professional dedicated format for a long period of time. Having the time to do this really makes a change from a really busy life and was one of the best professional discussions I have taken part in for ages.

A number of panels are taking place around the country. There are also other sessions taking place as a public event. All the evidence will contribute to the larger enquiry. For more information visit the BCSE website.

Lots of people have lots to say. With real evidence presented, this could be a really powerful enquiry. Many have have high regard for Estelle Morris - I look forward to the final report which is due, I believe, very early next year.

Technology the future and CPD

I was asked this week what I thought technology in schools would look like in the future? An impossible task really. Goodness, people just a few years ago thought mobile phones would never take off due to their enormous size. Look at their vast computing power now.

What we can safely predict is that everyone will have their own dedicated high quality device - many schools are heading that way already. They will be able to log in anywhere, anytime and work and communicate locally, nationally and globally. I was pushed as to whether that meant everyone just having a laptop - my answer is no, I am sure it will be a range of devices - it's just that we may not have seen them yet.

This is the key reason why new learning spaces have to be so carefully configured to maximise agility in learning, be adaptable for the widest range of learning styles and have fully integrated technological capacity. All this has to be able to proactively adapt to whatever the future brings.

This is a real challenge for many teachers, especially those in very demanding schools. Preparation for this is long term and very much a 'journey' (even though I hate that phrase) and cannot be something just 'shoved on' in an evening session or one professional day. Most staff I still actively work with really like to see ideas for the future, but then also want to see how it works in their own room, with their students, on the real work that has to be done with all the challenges of results driven, inspection driven, National Challenge demand and and and and..

Many tell me that they consider the most effective form of professional development occurs when people are modelling, coaching and supporting staff in their own classrooms. This is really effective but cannot just be a brief 'one-off' visit. It is about developing confidence, skills and ideas and having people to praise, help plan and suggest 'alternative routes' when learning goes in a different directions. They also want time to plan, evaluate how things went and share experiences and ideas to move forward. Developing teams of people confident in new strategies is the way forward. Funding models often do not allow this currently and the whole approach to CPD just has to be reviewed.

Even in BSF, there are budgets for everything, buildings, ICT (equipment and training) but no budgets are specifically identified for education transformation CPD - the people bit (except whatever funds can be spared from the ICT budgets but it is so much more than just that).

New buildings do not bring about education transformation - but they can really enhance the opportunities if people know how to respond to them. If we get this wrong then we are not encouraging the long term transformational agenda? We need a rethink!

To post or not to post...

The comments I have got over the years are really interesting... one moment just last week they are incredibly complementary about my style..... the next day I get a fairly rude negative one telling me to basically not bother to write anything unless I am going to sound off about something of real depth and substance. (It was not published as the writer predicted). The same person even doubted I used to be a Headteacher.

Maybe my slightly non conventional non 'heavy' style is one of the reasons that the schools I led seemed did so well, including one being very high in the most improved list two years in a row. Many comments, especially the positives do not get published.

I have always stated that this blog is not intended to be a heavyweight or deeply philosophical exposition about educational theory. It is absolutely no more than my very quick observations or thoughts on things that happen during my working week, or things that make me smile or shudder. It is a form of diary really.

I am extremely fortunate to work all over the place on all sorts of projects, BSF, Academies as well as a range of international strategic projects.

My blog style will change no doubt as time goes on but right now it is what it is, with thousands of returning readers a year. No apologies.

Handsfree....

Different day, different city. Spotted today in a Liverpool taxi - is this what they mean by handsfree?

Nothing educational, no philosophy - just a sight that just amused me. And as for the ring tones... the dedicated one for his wife resembled an emergency klaxon with a shouted message "Alert alert alert, it's the wife".

Three times she phoned during our journey... he never did answer it!

Making plans real

Making plans real is hard for many people especially for those not used to interpreting them. Considering teaching / learning spaces to day with a variety of educators and authority personnel involved mocking up spaces to full scale in a warehouse.

This enabled us to demonstrate a really wide range of learning, FF&E and multi ICT solutions. We could then really demonstrate the impact on the planning and learning in these spaces. and how they could enhance learning experiences for both students and school staff.

More than one person noted that they had spent so long looking at plans that the spaces were 'shrinking' in their minds every time they looked at them. Seeing their own plans modelled to scale and having the opportunity to walk through them brought home just how large the spaces really are and what amazing opportunities they provided for staff and learners to work in wide range of learning styles.

A complex operation to organise in a short space of time by colleagues, but it really again brings home the message about people receiving and understanding information in different ways.

Learning environments don't have to just be on a field..

Working with my friend Professor Heppell in the south of England last week, we ended up looking at potential sites for new 21st century learning environments. It is amazing how many people think it has to be a field or similar site. Where is everyone's imagination?

When shown a potenial site that was anything but a field, more of a set from Doctor Who,, and then supported it with some really exciting concept graphics, people got really REALLY enthused. I am not surprised really - they were great! (Although the photo below does not show it, the site did also allow for all the facilities that would be needed, including outdoor spaces for sport, socialising etc)

Learning should be exciting, interesting and challenging..... the environment really does make a difference - and the location of that environment can play a major part in creating a truely memorable learning experience, not just for young learners but also the whole community.

Isn't that what we are trying to achieve?

Learning Spaces (more of)

I spent time this week visiting the newly created 'Real Centre' at RM's headquarters in Abingdon. The 'Real Centre' is really a large area dedicated to displaying examples of what a variety of future learning spaces may look like. These include a 'Da-Vinci' studio, open learning areas, a sensory area, a creative area, complete with green screen technology and more.

The learning areas, obviously fully IT resourced, are a great awareness raising and teaching facility for students, teachers, local authorities and developers of new learning environments.

One feature that I remain impressed by (not the dog seats pictured below, although they are fun), is the enclosed collaborative space in the photo above. Fully powered (including data) there are so many potential uses for these spaces in school, in learning resource areas, open learning areas, social spaces....

I spoke to students, the real clients, who were using such a space earlier this year. In that case they were using this facility in a large learning area with other students and adults around. They were using the quiet environment to record interviews with other students. These then were to be uploaded to create instant pod casts which could be loaded onto the school Virtual Learning Environment. The real transparency allows masses of passive supervision by staff, and there is also a small whiteboard area inside to explore ideas in a more traditional way.

All those students, without fail, wished that they had more of these in their schools. They noted that it allowed them to work in just one of the ways that they were comfortable with, amongst a wide range of approaches. Students really are so much more aware of their preferred learning strategies then many give them credit for!

The 'Real Centre' is already being visited by masses of visitors - I'm not surprised really.

A Monster Reception

Walking into a office block with a colleague this week in the north of England, we were amazed to see this larger than life figure in the Reception area. (sorry about the slightly blurry photo!)

So many people keep talking about the reception areas being really welcoming places - which I agree is just so important. However this figure additionally created a major focal and discussion point and made it a really interesting place to be, as well as being welcoming.

When students do create large sculptures or pieces of course work which are then displayed they frequently cause much discussion and many positive comments. Unfortunately we still don't often for go for large scale projects anywhere near enough. Even if we do, how often do we share them with the wider community?

One of the best large scale school reception displays I have ever seen was one students textiles exhibition at a school in Hampshire. Large exaggerated and incredibly dramatic costume dresses became a massive talking point all around the local district. This student work became really celebrated with community members visiting the school just to see them. Unfortunately it was also in the days before I carried a camera everywhere.

Now - if the figure above had been designed and made by a student - what a fab piece of sculpture that would be in a school reception!

Student conversations about school design

Earlier this week I spent time with secondary students in Blackburn talking about school design. They had spent some weeks identifying and photographing areas they liked and disliked in their current schools. They had also been having some real conversations exploring and confirming what they really considered to be important features of a new school build.

No surprise to me, but certainly to some of their staff, was the sophistication of their thinking, including the importance of internal transparency, of natural daylight and external views, appropriate and varied furniture, different learning spaces, colour, trees and plants, (inside and out), water features (inside and out), interesting and varied external spaces and so on.

They also had the variety this week to work with a variety of architects, (including landscape architects) to start to design their results of their student conversations. Some amazing and realistic ideas came forward. Although the photograph below looks fairly indecipherable, the thinking and design to those present and who were part of the conversation regarding the different elements was excellent.

Traditionally we have talked about student voice - this implies that adults listen and go away and maybe do something with what they have heard..... or maybe not.

I think we should really be rethinking this and referring to student conversations. If we do this, then that really does put the pressure on for these types of engagements to be an ongoing professional dialogue that results in genuine impact on schemes, on learning or what ever is being discussed. It surely is the only way forward!

Sorry for the absence......

Sorry to regular readers of this blog.... various events including a death in the family have caused me to concentrate on other things recently.

However, more posts are now imminent.

Lets protect the bikes - what about the students....

As I travel around I am always kind of surprised how we always seem to provide all kinds of structures to protect bicycles but not for students in open social areas...

It s quite bizarre really. Many students would go outside rain or sun if there was a structure to sit under.... there rarely are.... Fear not though - the bicycles are fine!

Floral Timpani

Visiting the Education Village in Darlington last week I was surprised to see two old timpani converted into flower tubs.... It turns out that they were to be disposed of. The alternative was to recycle them.

They do make quite eye catching displays as you enter this particular building. Not sure what else you could have used them for really- -any suggestions?

Colleagues around the world..

It was really good to catch up with a former colleague this week. David Smith, a highly respected Education Facilities Professional for some years acted as Director of New Education Build in the Cayman Islands,. This was for the amazing new 21st century learning environments which are now well under way in their construction

Working out of North Carolina, his skills, talents and personality are considerable and, to top it all he is just a really good guy! His new website 'Build Schools' gives a flavour of peoples' reaction to him and his work. I was humbled that he included my comments.

Education is such a small world - you just never know when you are going to meet up with people again. But when you do get the opportunity to work with amazing people it is just brill!

'The Third Teacher'

I am delighted that oWp/p have published their new book 'The Third Teacher'. The title refers to the learning environment that students learn in.

oWp/p are Chicago based architects, specialising in education facilities. I have worked with them extensively as architects of the fantastic new learning campuses being built in the Cayman Islands. They are truely a great team of people.

'The Third Teacher' has taken time to research and get right and reflects many examples of best practice from all over the world. It also includes a variety of interviews with field experts including Sir Ken Robinson and really explores the importance and impact of education environments.

I must declare an interest in this book. Not only does it feature the new Cayman learning campuses which I was very involved with, but I was flown over from Cayman to the UK to be involved in one of the small very focused working dinners with a variety of people including Professor Stephen Heppell. I am flattered to also find myself quoted in the book, as well as a photo- if you look hard enough!

The interest in new learning environments is intense at the moment, the more research that is done and presented to the interested world the better.

A great book - well worth a read. Thanks to Rick Dewar and Trung Le of oWp/p for involving me from the start of this project!

Student voice - as usual, ambitious, sensible, challenging

One day last week I was working with Year 7 students in Lancashire as we discussed designing new 21st century learning environments. As always they were excited and engaged, but crucially they were ambitious, creative and maintained a good degree of pragmatism.

They clearly analysed several examples of interiors before setting about designing their own learning environment. They also had the opportunity to work with an architect who supported them and could explain as they explored and developed their own ideas.

Their attention to detail in discussing the positive and negaitive aspects of natural light, artificial lights, colour and and types of materials again demonstrated the folly of those who do not consider students voice to be a powerful stakeholder in the development of new schools. The students were just excellent - their thoughts and ideas even better!

Stairs? - No thanks, I'll take the slide!

Considerable attention from all over the world has been given to the new three storey slide installed in the Electric Works offices in Sheffield which opened in March. It is for staff to use when they feel like it - it certainly beats stairs for many. Even todays media covers a story on it.

They are not alone, the Google offices also have one. It's all about making the workplace exciting, vibrant, different and just plain fun - and why not? It is also about smart employers thinking outside the box and creating environments where staff want to work, and want to remain working! It's not the only feature of course, but the most unusual and the one attracting the most attention. It is about the entire environment and working experience.

I can't see us installing these in schools right now, it's not really in the BSG remit, but as someone said to me earlier; "why not?" Many of us can think of immediate answers but.........

Now if it were just for staff.......... but after all schools are for students...

Have you tried...... wordle.net?

Everyone else has probably heard of, tried and uses www.wordle.net but I hadn't until very recently. Simply drop in a piece of text or just a blog link, click and a word graphic appears featuring the key words. As long as it is not overused (always a danger), it may be useful for project and display work. The example shown was created using a link to this blog.

I'd often seen this type of graphic, but had just just not realised that there was software for it. Obvious really!

Student design... with pasta

Teachers have used pasta for years for art work, but visiting a primary school recently I just thought that these two pasta works by the same student were just fun. Apparently she wants to be an architect. The bridge is particularly fine I think!

The enthusiasm, ideas and sense of fun were just great to see throughout the school. Here students were allowed to experiment, explore and learn through play... and their ideas were celebrated ... without fail, everywhere. If we could do that in schools everywhere.....

School bathrooms (toilets) - one way forward....

Unisex facilities with passive supervision located in one 'Home Base' for students in a Centre for Learning in Knowsley

An interesting article this week appeared in the 'Times Educational Supplement', all about school bathrooms (or toilets). It really supported the needed for professional business standard facilities that are designed to prevent incidents including vandalism and bullying.

It's about time really - for far too long they have been an undiscussed issue. Toilets play a massive part in the views of students about their school. Any discussion with students about their schools always ends up talking about them. Lots of people have called school toilets lots of things, mainly negative, including 'bullying antechambers'. A significant percentage of students avoid visiting them all day if humanly possible.

As a Head I always tried to provide really high standard facilities that were very regularly cleaned and stocked each day. Amazingly, this is not always the case. One school in Hull received ridiculous and ill informed national media criticism after a story about it upgrading its students facilities.

A number of new schools have approached the design of these facilities with some imagination, ranging from individual cubicles off corridors, through to removing the 'fourth wall' to ensure passive supervision. Maybe the more radical idea has been to do the latter and also make them unisex. This is the case in a number of schools here and abroad, including the Centres for Learning in Knowsley (see top photograph) and the Tong High School in Bradford.

This move is a real cultural shift in design. What has been reported is, predictably, the major reduction in damage and inappropriate behaviour. Whilst not everyone will like it it is an area that many schools have to do something differently.

Surely the day of the 'industrial' toilets tucked away at the end of corridors has gone. If we design them correctly and put them where the students are, then then the negative behaviours can be prevented and those students who ask to leave the lesson no longer have the excuse to wander the school corridors for ages disrupting others. It's not rocket science - just different.

21st century learning spaces - funky 'cool' design

The central space complete with 'floating rooms' and climbing wall

I was very fortunate last week to go on the BCSE (British Council for School Environments) study tour to the Netherlands. The whole trip took just two days with five very different schools being visited.

I suppose the most memorable was the award winning Facilitair Centrum Niekée in Roermond. Niekée is based in a spectacular new 8000m² building and is really a very funky modern learning environment. It really is a dynamic learning environment. Students think it is a very cool building, and to be honest so did we. It certainly created lots to talk about and the architect talked us through the reasons for this unique design.

This is a vocational school that previously did not have a great reputation. The new building has transformed this. Students come from all over, attitudes, attendance and attainment has really improved. They are engaged and motivated. People want to attend and stay. Students follow a project based curriculum and the school specialises in Technology and Business Studies.

With floating classrooms in the central hall, a non conventional layout, transparency across levels and flexible furniture, climbing wall in the centre of the school Niekée is everything but a traditional school. Around the sociable central space on the ground floor are homebases and workrooms whilst pods project from the first and second floors. Each pod is of a different material, from glass, steel, wood through to gold fabric.

Visiting new environments is a great way to learn from colleagues all around the world. The BCSE study trips play an important contribution in helping inform a whole range of stakeholders. A great experience BCSE and thanks.

(I am sure I will post more stories and photos at a late date)

Riding to school - Dutch style

One of three cycle parks in this school

Visiting schools in the Netherlands last week, I was again reminded just what a cycling country it is. Valuas College in Venlo, with over two and a half thousand staff and students, has over two thousand cycles being ridden to it each day. As a result of course, many students are pretty fit.

The difference, of course, is that cycling is part of the Dutch culture. This means that the whole infrastructure supports safe cycling, wonderful cycle lanes well away from traffic, their own lights, crossings and so on. It is built into the whole town planning culture. No wonder so many cycle.

No way would I ride a bike through the crowded congested streets near where I live in the U.K. Now if we could incorporate this kind of infrastructure as we plan new schools in this country.........!

If I lived in the Netherlands, maybe I would cycle as well.

Student fun in personalising their bikes

21st century - Centres for Learning - Knowsley

I was fortunate to visit the new Centre for Learning in Haleswood, Knowsley last week to discuss a potential future project. The largest of the seven new Centres of Learning being built, it is just in the process of being completed. It is a truely remarkable building being really spectacular and on the very cutting edge of new 21st century design for learning environments. These buildings are being delivered as part of the U.K's very ambitious and commendable 'Building Schools of the Future' programme (BSF)

The very radical design will not be to the taste of every teacher, headteacher or local authority, but it was designed to meet the specific vision identified by Knowsley of very agile learning spaces which will really encourage a very wide variety of learning styles to take place. With very few traditional classroom spaces the result meets the demands of the vision. It is truely exciting, but will also be challenging as well until learners and staff are really comfortable with the many opportunities that the new buildings offer.

Amongst the design features in this building which, is built loosely along the 'schools within a school' model, food serveries are scattered near home bases, student bathrooms are unisex and open with no 'external fuourth wall' providing plenty of passive supervision and around the building there is lots of transparency into learning spaces.

Whilst I was there, students who will transfer to these spaces were being shown round by their teachers. Frankly they looked 'blown away' by the new look spaces. They are certainly differnt to the standard classrooms in many schools.

There is already a great deal of international interest in these designs and there will be many visitors from all over the world in the forthcoming months and years.

With two of the seven new centres open already with the rest on target for completion within a year, the secondary learning environments of Knowsley are certainly exciting. I hope that the learning that takes place within them is just as exciting.

Indoor gardens

Visiting Leigh Technology Academy recently I really loved the two indoor 'garden' areas, each between two sets of Colleges.

The academy is designed and operates strictly along the 'schools within schools' model. There are four colleges, each with their own Principal who operate and share one enclosed campus. Students and staff stay almost exclusively within their dedicated college areas apart from sharing specialist areas such as sports, technology etc.

Those that know me are aware that I am a great fan of this model, having helped lead the change at Ministry level of one school into four small schools in the Cayman Islands. The benefits of this change were immediate and overwhelmingly positive in many ways.

At Leigh Technology College, two colleges share one central space complete with indoor garden and social areas. This is replicated for the other two colleges. Very significantly, at the centre of each 'garden' is a conference table and chairs where all senior management meetings take place. No locked away in little offices - but done at the very heart of the Academy with total transparency to all, students and staff alike. In fact each college has learning balconies (or plazas) overlooking them. These plazas have a variety of rooms off them for other types of learning. The spaces were designed for learning and it shows. A great ethos with a real feeling of engagement and openness. (Architects again were BDP)

The planting certainly softened the environment and many people were convinced that the air quality was much better - probably an obvious statement but something we can learn from.

Using the roof as a learning space - why not?

There is a move in a few new schools (primary and secondary) to use the roof as teaching, learning and socialising space, here and abroad. Whilst not a major trend, this is sometimes true in schools being developed in tight urban spaces - and why not? The roof is a large area that usually serves only one function but so much more can be done with some creative and innovative thinking.

The photographs in this post are again of the Bridge Academy in Hackney, (see post below) showing the roof garden on top of the performance centre. The space is also enhanced with some rather funky outside furniture which encourages multiple use. It is being used as a teaching space, but opportunities for art, drama, dance, geography, history, local community awareness all spring to mind.

In addition, as a unique venue in that area, with opportunities for school, community and borough functions and events - the potential is enormous. The view, albeit urban is fascinating and many boroughs and landmarks are visible. It is a great resource.

There will be the usual concerns about health and safety, but as can be seen, smart design has allowed higher than normal rails, extensive planting and so on has created a wide (and high) barrier whilst maximising the uses of the space.

And yes - there obviously does have to be effective supervision, as every school space requires (this sentence has only been added only written as someone has already asked!).

Does it does add cost to a build programme, yes, but does it bring additional value to the learning opportunities - surely yes again?

If we really are to build creative 21st century learning spaces that maximise use of the building maybe we should all be looking up and at least thinking about the roof as another opportunity.

Professional learning environments

I was very fortunate to visit the very impressive new Bridge Academy in Hackney last week. This amazing piece of architecture will really challenge some people as it does not look like a conventional school, or, according to some people, what a school should look like. It is designed and intends to operate as a very professional adult environment with the latest state of the art facilities. Built on a very very compact site it's many many levels should allow masses of circulation opportunities without feeling crowded. With two years groups currently using it the signs are good. The building will allow a whole range of learning opportunities in a variety of spaces, including extensive break out areas. The potential is massive.

The canal running alongside the Academy is a great reminder of social history as well as a starting point for a variety of discussions on a range of themes, as well as just a great feature. Maximum use was made of this during construction with a lot of the rubble and debris from the construction being removed by barge, rather than trucks through the congested streets. Even whilst I was there it was being used for both work and pleasure purposes.

A great building and visit proves that there is some really interesting and creative thinking going on with new schools designs. (Architects: BDP)

Changes on the Teachers Television website

I was pleased to be asked by the amazing folks at Teachers TV to help promote their new website. This goes live over the next month or so. They will be promoting the preview site on their homepage from next week but readers of this blog can 'get in early' by clicking the following link: http://preview.teachers.tv/

It may still be that not all links are functional, and so for regular queries do continue using the current site. I encourage everyone to look around and leave any feedback via the online feedback form.

The depth and quality of resources that TTV provides is just amazing and I know that increasiIng numbers of people are using them. To those who have not explored the website so far - I do urge you to do so - so many free resources that may help lessons and also support professional development. The other great thing of course is that the resources available just keeps growing all the time.

I have met a several of the senior TTV team a number of times - they are just so committed to producing the highest quality resources to help support education. This much improved website is just great.

iTouch - applications by the thousands

Scrolling through the Apple 'online store' this weekend I was just amazed to see that there are now over 15,000 applications, some free, now available for the fab iphone and itouch devices, and the number continues to grow.

All over the world people are devising operations, games and such like for these, which they can they offer for consideration as available software - amazing really. It does take a long time looking through the ever growing catalogue though.

Technology is progressing so fast and we now routinely walk around with so much computer power in our pockets - it really makes you wonder where we will be in a few years time, not just with computing power but the applications/ uses we will have access to.

Professional Development for 21st Century Learning and Teaching

A much longer post than normal and written 'all in one go'... as a result it will probably be constantly changing for a while as I review my thoughts (and edit my English!!).........

I have been asked several times in recent weeks about my thoughts on professional development for teachers, especially regarding preparing to work in what are being called 21st century learning environments. People have even written to me through this blog saying that really want their teaching to move forward but ‘don’t know how”.

Before I start I must emphasis that some schools and authorities are doing this absolutley brilliantly and really working with thier staff as a change team - it's just fantastic when this happens. It is not consistent across the country though I fear.

New learning environments typically feature fewer enclosed or ‘traditional’ classrooms, rather a variety of agile spaces where a variety of learning and teaching can take place. Areas include; breakout areas, large spaces for lead lessons, seminar areas, group work, research and individual work spaces, presentation and performance spaces and so on, all supported by pervasive computer technology firmly embedded within them.

What absolutely CANNOT happen regarding professional development for these spaces is to wait until they are built. The professional development of teachers AND students should be ongoing and certainly have started as the plans for the new schools begin to be designed. Teachers and students must know the ways they wish they could work now (and think about the future), contribute to the design debate and still allow buildings to cater for future learning styles that are currently unknown.

Many students are clear and insightful about how they learn best and can be a powerful ally in creating really effective learning spaces and approaches to learning but we frequently don’t ask them enough even now. I’ve had student panels say things to staff like “why don’t you blue tooth notes to us rather than us copy them down?” and so on and so on and so on… (unfortunately some of the teachers didn’t know what they were talking about!)

Professional development for new learning spaces and styles is not best undertaken by a series of ‘one off’ professional days listening to some perceived expert - although these do have their uses if the focus is right. Nor are mandatory after school CPD sessions particularly effective after what can be a gruelling day.

Most effective is working with teachers, in their room, with their students. 'Learning Leaders' (call them what you will) supporting teachers using and develop new learning and teaching styles can be really effective, working on ‘real’ work during a normal day. Usually most effective is to arrange this support working with every member of a faculty or department simultaneously. This allows real time modelling of good (and new) practice, team teaching, real time support, group work, mixed groupings, lead lessons, small group work with the whole team working, learning and gaining confidence together. This is not a one hour session – this takes some days to really embed in along with return visits. Real time evaluation and changes in approach can also be developed along with codes for students of expected behaviours and work habits. ‘Doing it to just one individual’ just is not anywhere near as effective and can be pointless.

Within a school then this group of teachers become leaders and the learning support goes to another faculty and develop their skills and so on. Staff from the second group can then compare notes and strategies with the first group and so the movement spreads. Approaches will vary depending on the subject and but can also really enhance cross curricular project work and make things much for interesting and enjoyable for teachers as well as students as they work in teams rather than the solitary ‘secret activity’ that so often happens. (All of this is done obviously maintaining a real focus on improving standards.) Developing this across schools then also allows other collaborations. And thats before we think about 14-19 opportunities, business links, community engagement, global connectivity and...and...

But just like teachers, students cannot just walk into a new environment and be expected to do things differently without any preparation. Lots of amazing and innovative learning takes place despite occurring in the most traditional of spaces. New environments do make a difference and allow even more flexibility and opportunity which many really benefit from.

Students need to be prepared over the years it takes to design and build / remodel new schools in a range of ways of working, supported by the appropriate technologies. They need to be able to work individually and in small groups, to research, to be trusted with technology embedded within lessons, to know how lead lessons work and be able to contribute to lessons. (Students have lived with this approach most of their primary school lives after all – dare I suggest that in some secondary schools we are deskilling youngsters in the variety of ways they can learn?)

Some schools and authorities are developing test beds within schools or in areas for teachers and students to be able to develop new learning skills. This is really good practice. Obviously these are best employed in schools so it does not become a ‘special day out’ for everyone , immediately losing some relevance. The rules for using these spaces is that who ever is in there ‘must do it differently’! If these exist there has to be a real programme of all staff using them, so they do not just become a ‘white elephant’.

I know someone will write in about challenging behaviour preventing all these things happening, but by combining groups (and hence more staff) and having students working in a variety of ways, those that can work will, without wasting time waiting for the others, the ‘audience factor’ reduces and greater focus can be put on those needing it.

Of course every school has its challenges and some are particularly tough – I totally accept that. All I am suggesting is that the approach to professional development needs to be really thought out much more carefully in some of the places I have visited here and abroad.

It comes down to inadequate professional development budgets and insufficient priority. CPD budgets are also often the first things cut in any saving programme. This is bonkers – the whole value of new buildings programmes can be severely compromised if people aren’t really confident of developing the learning opportunities that the spaces allow. How can NOT planning the really effective development of staff and students before they enter new environments be sensible?

An evening with Dr Kenn Fisher

Spending an evening with Australian international education guru Dr. Kenn Fisher was exceptionally stimulating company. Fourteen of us attended the BCSE dinner not only to hear Kenn Fisher's views but also to have a wide ranging discussion with him about making new schools and education better!

Representatives from architects, FF&E and educationalists had plenty of opportunity to express their views, identify the frustrations and opportunities within current systems and generally network.

Large numbers of people have huge respect for Kenn Fisher, he frequently visits the UK and gains more followers each time.

The opportunity to take part in a really focused discussion amongst a wide ranging group of professionals is such a privilege, I hope I contributed usefully from the education perspective...

Pizza - so why not education?

In Notting Hill recently I passed a just great eye catching and innovative window display for an Italian food shop. The pizza it was selling was promoted balanced in a car window (or half a car anyway). I just thought it was a great idea.

It was so different and frankly, exciting - everyone was looking at it. It got me thinking, as lots of people passing looked and commented... if we can sell pizza in a window why can't we promote the very special skills of our young people in their community, their ability, the work that they do and the specific unique skills that they have.

Schools do celebrate students inside schools but it is still quite a secret affair - this celebration rarely ventures outside. (In fairness websites have really helped). But.... we really should be promoting them in the community as well.

The name of this rather clever forward thinking shop is below. (the pizza was fab as well!)

Storage - why don't people listen??

Any teacher will tell you storage is always an issue - we rarely build enough of it in our schools they say.

Schools all over the world are turning to storage containers to help ease the load. I did it myself both as a Head and at an authority level. From the Cayman Islands through to schools all over the place I see containers being deployed. One school I visited recently had 18 containers! This is hardly a 21st century ennvironment. It's bonkers when you think about it.

Teachers need just loads of space.... or do we????

Teachers tend to be the greatest hoarders of all time saving 'stuff that may come in useful one day' or 'it may come back on the syllabus'... One teacher said to a colleague recently "What am I going to do with my 29 filing cabinets? No one can use 29 filing cabinets I'm sorry! A large number of teachers I know always say they need more then they actually do.

With more and more resources on line or on VLE's etc, with more students having wireless devices and laptops, we maybe should actually need less stuff and this should reduce further as the use of these develop.

What we WILL always need storage for is the 'big stuff, the furniture, design tech resources etc..
Special schools will always have expensive specialist kit that is not needed for one year but then is.. Where do they keep it?

If we know all this -then why can't we get it right and why are we keeping the container rental companies in business!

Student art - don't you just love it!

Visiting a special school this week for lots of reasons... but what was just fab, as usual, was seeing the celebration of students work on display.

Heads are a favourite art activity but the attention to detail and focus shown in a whole row of heads was really impressive and fun and just plain cute.. The one above is full of character with it's lopsided mouth, i just really liked it - but I could have taken photos of just loads of them!

I still hear some people say art is a 'frill' subject... it just so clearly isn't!

The blog hits a hundred...... countries that is!

I am always amazed and a bit humbled by just how many people do click onto my blog. It is, after all, just me and my thoughts at any particular time. I do try not to be pretentious, trite, heavy or make it something it's not'. I must admit I do usually quite enjoy doing it and it does act as quite a good personal record of just some of the fab things I get to do as I wander around aspects of 21st century education.

Even more amazing is that the number of countries that people have visited the blog from has now risen to and exceeded one hundred (One hundred and one to be precise.)

Just to say a real thank you and, .... please keep reading... and commenting if you wish!

Screaming guitars not for me..... not yet anyway!

So I gave in and tried my hand at ‘Guitar Hero’ over the weekend (the Wii version)…. And yes – those that know me also can predict that it was not a great musical success with me being ‘booed’ off stage at least three times for failing to finish the song - with many many mistakes. (and yes it was the easy version!),

I must admit it was great fun and certainly made me focus and really concentrate on a variety of skills simultaneously, left and right hands doing different things, watching the screen – and the notes to be played were certainly whipping along fast at one point. No contortions or leaping with screaming guitar sounds for me – I was too busy concentrating.

Lots of people knock games such as this, but it really does develop a range of skills including cognitive development, co-ordination, concentration, multitasking and personal challenge (along with being able to have just plain fun). Wii's are now in many schools serving a variety of very useful educational purposes - I'm sure that everyone will have them soon.

Back to Guitar Hero though - my eldest daughter, still a teen ( only just!) is, inevitably, not just better than me, she is very accomplished at it. She must have spare time on her hands… maybe I should do something about that…. Schools should definitely not write this form of technology off!

Do I want to do it again - yes definitely. I failed to finish last time and that is something I don't like doing - ever!

Discussing BSF.....

In a busy week (last week) I was also invited to an invitation only round table discussion on BSF organised by think tank 'Policy Exchange'. Just eighteen of us, including Tim Byles from PfS, along with representatives from education, ICT, contractors, BECTA, RIBA, politics and academics discussed our own perspectives of the BSF process and impact of it.

This was just a very first meeting of a longer piece of research involving lots of people which will, in turn, lead to a written report which will hopefully inform / support future decisions.

Sessions such as these are always really stimulating session once people gain confidence and as people speak honestly about intention, reality and solutions. One challenge will be to harness all the different views!

Certainly the time went very quickly, I suspect many of us could have stayed and discussed far more! Perhaps I will get another opportunity...

Creating Great Remodelled Schools

Chairing the Conference

I was honoured to be asked to chair BCSE's national conference 'Creating Great Remodelled Schools' in Nottingham last week. I have chaired a number of national conferences here and abroad - this was certainly a very busy one!

The 140 or so delegates enjoyed a very very packed fast paced agenda looking at many aspects of remodelled schools and other projects with several case studies! Along with a number of workshop sessions it was the first national conference on this really important subject. This is surprising really as 50% of BSF projects are concerned with remodelling not new build, and an even higher proportion of the Primary Capital Programme.

With input from CABE, architects, local authorities and more, there was variety, enthusiasm and passion .... As ever one of the real highlights was a short presentation by a group of primary students about their newly remodelled (and environmentally very friendly) school.

Even better was that as they finished a little early, as Chair, I asked them a totally suprise question about what they liked about their school. With almost no hesitation they each gave a totally different answer as I walked the mic down the line. This is quite unusual for an unprepared answer and showed a real ownership of all aspects of their school, what it was trying to achieve and what it stood for. Thery certainly impressed the audience! As I noted to the audience there should never be an education conference that does not hear from the students at some point - after all thats why we're here!

Evaluations of the conference were very positive but I think a followup should include more input from Headteachers and staff who have lived trough the whole process - again learning from peers.... but that is for another conference on another day (please!).

(Slides from the Conference will appear on the BCSE website soon).

Cayman Islands - 21st Century Transformational Learning Campuses growing fast!

It really has been a long time since I have referred to the blog which I started whilst Strategic Development Advisor (Education) to the Minister of Education in the Cayman Islands. I am pleaseed to see that it is still running and being updated.

Anyone checking up on it recently will see that two of the three cutting edge designed new high schools are now well under way, even to the stage of staff taking tours of the construction site. (Unfortunately the third is on ice, temporarily - the credit crunch has also hit Cayman you know). Even more exciting are the 'flythroughs' of the interiors which have also just been posted. (See below for link). These fab and totally transformational spaces were designed in concept by world leading designer Praknash Nair of Fielding Nair International, in conjunction with Professor Stephen Heppell and international architects oWp/p of Chicago. I was fortunate to have worked closely with all of them for a long time and remain a senior consultant for Fielding Nair,

I was really lucky at having been involved in all this work from a national strategic level right through to teacher and student level. One of the regrets at leaving the Ministry and Cayman Islands was knowing I would not be there to see all the preparation for teachers and also, not seeing the new schools on completion. I was just so involved for so long! (Mind you the exciting opportunities in the UK are also fascinating!)

To hear about and see the progress on the learning campuses that has been made from both reports by friends but also blog posts is just so encouraging and exciting.

There are literally people all over the world who are watching these campuses being built with real interest and the requests to visit started just ages ago. Even I get asked if I can arrange visits for people even though I am now based in the U.K. When you see the images - you can see why!

To view the CI education blog click here

To view the internal 'flythroughs' of the new Learning Campuses click here

Late start for teenagers is happening already..

Following on from my blog entry "Sleepy Teenagers" about Monkseaton High School considering starting school later for some students, the Times Educational Supplement this week carried a story noting that Hugh Christie Technology College in Kent already does this. Three hundred 14-18 students start at 11.30 and finish at 5.30 on three days a week. (It applies to all (It applies to all Years 12 / 13 students and selected Year 10 and 11 students)

According to the story by journalist David Marley this revised timetable has had a “powerful impact”. Parents and teachers have apparently given very positive feedback from this approach.

Sensibly they do this three days a week and start early on Fridays to allow for an early finish for all. (The remaining day has no formal lessons).

The impact of this has apparently contributed to what is predicted to be the equivalent of at least a grade difference across the board. Exams results rising, attendance rising, behaviour better, better relationships at home with parents / young people in the morning,

I have always said that those Heads and staff willing to be brave to support students achieving better and becoming more engaged with their learning deserve support. We have to do some things differently and be willing to be brave. What we do depends on the context and students. This approach wouldn’t be right for everyone but I am delighted that for this school the brave innovative decision appears to be producing very positive results. This will allow other people to learn from good practice – the more the better really.

For previous blog post on this subject click here.

Outside learning but Interesting decisions

A great outdoor space for students - for learning, working, socialising, relaxing... BUT....

Visiting a UK school recently I was admiring just one of their outdoor spaces complete with ampitheatre type seating, a courtyard and on through to an under cover largely glass protected area. This clearly allows students a whole variety of situations and opportunities for socialising, for working, for performance and provided a series of other working opportunities.

More and more schools are now being concerned about the potential of learning through external landscapes and architecture - this is a great space.

I was very sad though that, at the time of my visit, the whole space was banned for students because, at the school boundary just behind the seating after a strip of grass and the other side of a very high fence, was a river. I don't know of the causes behind the ban, so can't comment - they must have been good, but what a waste of a wonderful facility.

Whilst I think that this decision will be changed soon, something has clearly gone wrong here for this decision to be made, either in planning or in over protectionsim of students. I can't help but think of all those schools backing onto busy roads, railway tracks and yes - rivers. Students live in a very busy 21st century world with all sorts of risks and challenges. We have to be able to teach them how to work in all sorts of environments.

I can't help but think that there must be a better solution...

Somewhere, over the fence in this long grass is a river..

Is making coffee a 21st century learning skill?

Just a very light hearted comment really, but having just spent the day travelling to and from Rotherham (from London) with colleague Prof. Stephen Heppell, maybe part of the social skills we should teach is how to make a decent cup of coffee. The cups we had today on the train were either terrible or just plain bland. How could it be so bad? But is it a life skill? :=)

Kidzania - a great idea

Kidzania - not sure about the name but an interesting short article in the free newspaper 'Metro' today about a new facility in Japan, (one of ten worldwide..... so far), where young children can try their hand at a range of possible careers with more realism than ever before.

They can try undertaking open heart surgery, midwifery, radio broadcasting, car mechanics and so on, using real equipment although some of it may be reduced size. What a simply fab place for active learning, for collaborative work, for trialling, exploring and evaluating. You can just see how the engagement of the learners would be total.

It's a great idea and one that you can just see being replicated all round the world very very fast! It just looks like real fun learning! (interestingly the first such facility opened in Mexico).

The issue is, I guess, how far is this from the other learning experiences of the young people. If it is just a one off event, and the rest of their education is content or totally teacher led then it could be of limited value and just a one off piece of fun. If the rest of their learning is interative, exploratory, collaborative and this project enhances their experiences, then so much the better.
Discussing it briefly with Professor Stephen Heppell he made the good point that if all schools had agile spaces then these resources could be used anywhere, and then move to other schools and may have rather more value.

Where is there one in the UK or rather when will there be one in the UK? If you know, let me know!

To read the full Metro story click here

21st century learning - the future is challenging......

Day two of the Education Guardian BSF conference focused on transformation. Again amongst a variety of good sessions, one that really held my attention was the feisty key note presentation by Keri Facer, Professor of Education of Manchester Metropolitan University.

Challenging the audience about the future, via dancing robots, eyeborg technology through to education, her high speed presentation held everyones attention.

2025: a time of:

• massive familiarity with machines (many will have taken over human roles)
• "insanely rich information landscape"(merging of physical and virtual information)
• massive amounts of personal data, genetic data, MRI
• moving from individual communication to network

In this context, she posed the question: "what sorts of schools will there be and what sorts of schools won't be irrelevent"? All agreed with her view that the biggest obstacle to innovation was the assumption thet 'nothing changes!"

The transformation agenda is risky, but the solution is not to avoid the risk but manage it. we just HAVE to change and be constantly aware and adapting how we work. There are loads of strategies for doing this, including:

• piloting and prototyping
• trialing teaching spaces
• monitoring impact of change (with 'get out points')
• learning from others
• ensuring commmunity 'buy in'
• agreeing relevant success measures.(How do you identify and measure what has changed?)
• learn from mistakes - need to model to students what it is to trial and innovate
• be very clear of the risk of doing nothing!

I have heard Keri speak before - she always has a great presentation style and is always challenging.....

and no - no one did answer her question of about having an operation in twenty years time.... would you rather have an operation by a dedicated robot or by a human with all the frailities that could be involved? "We don't know" seemed to be the main feeling - I don't!

Huge interest in the breakout sessions

..

Students and ICT....

Visiting the Education Guardian BSF ICT Conference this week provided yet more opportunity for some really exciting discussions about the approaches to the BSF programme, and the importance of technology.

A particular personal highlights was the contribution by Professor Angela McFarlane, Professor of Education, University of Bristol.

She spoke passionately about the use of technology in schools and noted that although it is an assumption technology has made education change - much of any perceived change is superficial, and underneath little if anything, has actually changed in what is happening and being learnt. Simply pumping technology into schools will not change anything. It is still a content led world but "this is not preparing young people to do things they need to do in a 21st century world."

She also challenged the myth that all young people knew how to use the various new technologies well, especially regarding how to use them effectively for learning. Who is teaching them?

On multi tasking she noted that many people can multi task well, young people are often quoted as being masters at it and yes they often operate in short time scales. However she reminded the audience that young people do need to be able to concentrate for a long period of time, and need to be taught resilience and persistence on particular tasks. "Not all young people have butterfly brains though" quoting the example of video games which take time and real focus. A key issue is that students still need to be told the relevance of what they are doing and why they are doing it - still a major failing for many schools and one reason why students don't engage with work at times.

Prof. McFarlane also discussed the fact that the level of student performance using ICT is often dictated by by the groups they associate with. If the group is generally not confident in ICT use , the group will not improve as fast as others. Admitting non competence in ICT technologies is particularly embarrassing for young people as so many of their peers appear to be be so confident in particular aspects of its use. It "is a stigma issue". This is an issue that schools need to be able to recognise and have a remediation solution for. With so many schools developing VLE's etc , if a student does not know how to log on on day one they are potentially going to find it hard to catch up. And of course, she referred to the challenge of school banning the sites that are the ones students actually use, including Facebook, You Tube, Bebo and so on.

Her final plea was that it was the duty of schools to be able to teach youngsters responsibility and to be a responsible of user of ICT.

Good stuff with very imprtant messages and of course, as usual, Professor McFarlane makes perfect sense! The question is who is listening and who is doing what about it?

The Great Schools Campaign attracts even more support...

The launch of the British Council of School Environments (BCSE) 'Great Schools' campaign continues to gather support from a wide variety of people. The most recent of these include Kevin McLeod, (from Channel 4's 'Grand Designs'), who has long been a keen BCSE supporter. Kevin dropped into their offices recently to record a couple of short videos outlining his support for the Great schools campaign. To view his campaign support click here.

He is also passionate about the importance of environments that respect the students who use then, who in turn, respect the environment. To view these thoughts click here.

I am a great believer that all students and educators deserve great learning environments that motivate, encourage, facilitate and engage learners, no matter what their preferred learning style. The more we can do to support the realisation of this, no matter how little the detail, the better.

A significant number of people already support this campaign and I am sure that more will also be filmed demonstrating their support in the future. For more detail of BCSE's Great Schools campaign launch click here. To view BCSE's website click here

External Spaces in Schools

External spaces in schools are really important. Well designed ones are a real asset for students and staff. The Causeway School, co-located with Hazel Court Secondary School (for students with SLD) in Eastbourne, share a great, well established courtyard space with plenty of mature planting.

Its design allows multiple uses including areas that can be used for a variety of activities including; external learning, social spaces, semi private / reflective spaces and play. It is just a really relaxing and attractive place to be for the whole school community in the very heart of the school. This really is one of the better examples designed almost a decade ago and is really well maintained.

Advertising Education..

I was kind of surprised to spot a new hoarding advertising education today, specifically promoting the new Diplomas... (well not so new now). I don't think I can ever remember seeing one before on this type of subject. (But then again perhaps I have just not been looking!)

The thing about Diplomas is that there are still huge numbers of people who don't really know much about them, so the more information people have access to about current learning strategies the better.

Is this the right or best way??? I guess if the DCFS hoarding gets even a few people asking about Diplomas or even thinking about education it is worth it. Interesting strategy though. What's next?

A good start to the day..

My walk to the station is usually in the very early morning (well 5.30) and my return very late. Hence it is usually dark with nothing to see. Today, on my way to a school visit on the South Coast, I left later. Being fortunate enough to have to cross the River Thames, today I could really appreciate a) the view, and b) the early morning light.

The sun and lots of light really do make a difference. On four occasions today people started conversations about the importance of windows for students and also noted what a huge difference it made on the mood of people when the sun was shining. Nothing new here, we all know loads of daylight is a really important feature in schools and that everyone needs to be be able to look up from close up work to see long distances, thereby keeping their eyes and brains active. Therefore the external environment is also important, even if it is in the middle of a large city.

The secret is to ensure that designers put the windows in the appropriate place for the intended use of the space, so that teachers don't spend ages trying to block the light all out. Typical comments about windows made to me recently include windows being a) too high for wheel chair users, b) too low for ICT rooms thereby creating all sorts of issues on computer monitors, c) not enough glass and d) too much glass. We all have enough knowledge and experience now so should be able to get it right.....

Evidence based decisions...

Where is the evidence? was the proclamation last night at the launch of the CfBT research initiative 'Evidence matters'.

A packed meeting, with keynote speech by former Secretary of State for Education; Baroness Estelle Morris, heard the plea for more decisions concerning education to be based on real evidence. Specifically she called for pedagogy to be really evidence based and for the politics to be taken out of classroom pedagogy.

She also noted that many schools face a range of similar issues. For every issue there is somewhere which has found a solution. What we are not good at is creating a national solution or even sharing the solution with others. All too often schools are working in silos, when really there is no need for that to happen.

More and more people (and countries) are beginning to talk about pedagogy and making decisions. The better the evidence they use to make decision the better the quality of response should be. The evening went on in this vein with philosophical debate tempered by real life research and use of evidence from school staff.

The event also featured the launch of the new education evidence portal website. Most education professionals, especially teachers, do not really have time to research. This portal will help people find educational evidence from a range of reputable sources using a single search. It is designed for both professional and lay people interested in education and children's services and really should be a great tool as it further develops.

To visit the eep site click here.

It is always great to be in a room with so many people really passionate about improving the education for students and eep should be a great resource for all those interested in education research. A great initiative CfBT!

Lets talk about.... BSF

It's always good to review and evaluate current practice, especially when it potentially affects learners around the country. Being interviewed yesterday by leading centre right think tank 'Policy Exchange', we discussed many aspects of 21st century learning and teaching as well as issues around BSF.

I am a fan of the total revamp of our secondary school provision. However I am equally committed to a system that is transparent, effective and has a proven positive impact on the learning, teaching and achievement of the students within them.

It's good to talk and as we get nearer to an election it is so important that education does not become the inevitable political football it so often does. The focus must be ongoing improvements of the system. New learning environments are a key part of this.

(NB: Just in case you wondered I am only one of many being interviewed as part of a much bigger research programme so panic not).

The Shed

I visited a very successful Sixth Form College yesterday and had a fab meeting with senior staff about learning in the future and the implications for both them and students. It was really inspiring to see such positive and constructive ideas coming out, in addition to their ongoing discussion on their dedicated learning wiki.

What did suprise me though was my arrival for the meeting. Lots of people all over the world who are involved in designing new (and remodelled) 21st century learning environments mention the importance of a welcoming entrance for students, staff and visitors. I totally agree with this.

I was met by a very pleasant security man. The surprise was the fact that he was having to lean out of a window of a wooden shed to do so. It really was quite bizarre and something I have not seen for a very long time, let alone in a school this century!

I know that this particular college is hoping for a new building - if there was ever a case for better facilities being needed - here is a great example. They deserve it.

Sleepy teenagers..

I was really interested to read in the news this week about Monkseaton High School where Headteacher Dr. Paul Kelley is suggesting that lessons for teenagers should start at 11.00, rather than the normal school time. His own research, supported by neuroscientist Russell Foster, chair of circadian neuroscience at Brasenose College suggests that students perform better with a later start.

Monkseaton has been in the news before with trialling very short lessons to keep students engaged and involved. These have apparently seen student achievement rise. (See links on BBC news page - link below).

What I really do like about this though is that here is a Headteacher who is really always trying to work out how to best support the learning of his students for education reasons and not get trapped by organisational clutter.

If we are really talking about personalisation and 21st century learning and teaching we really should be addressing what works best for students.

After all there is no educational reason why school starts at 9.00. There is no educational reason why there are thirty in a class. (is it because there used to be 30 Roman soldiers in a cohort?). There is no educational reason for the long summer holidays (traditionally because of the needs of harvesting the crops). There is no educational reason for grouping students by some random age groupings based around birthdays.

Interestingly having talked to some teachers about this story I was amazed that quite a few would rather start school later themselves for at least some of the week, others wanted the status quo. A few agreed with the idea for the same reasons of learning and student engagement. (NB: he is not saying a later start for all students). Of course the added advantage that with a shift system is the school accommodation becomes even more flexible!
For full story click here

What do I think? I really am not sure right now about how I feel on this. Being the father of a teenage, it feels as though it should make a lot of sense. She certainly tries to keep different time zones to me.

I will be following this with real interest as will many others. I suspect that hDr Kelley may be right! All credit to him for being interested, motivated and brave enough to try to do the right thing for his students.

Sandcastles...

Children and young people just love learning through play and activities. Visiting friends in Felixstowe this weekend we spent some time on a very cold and windy beach with my young daughters. Sandcastles were demanded - but what started as just play quickly became a whole discussion about types of sand and castles as we tried different things.

The girls were born and until quite recently brought up in the Caribbean. Sandcastles there were totally different - the sand was much drier, softer and finer - in fact it was really difficult to make decent castles at all as they just collapsed. As we undertook major construction one daughter chatted happily away about sand, (different textures and properties) and asking why it was different. The final full blown castle complete with moat (not shown), obviously a triumph of design and architecture, still lost water from the moat .... but it was her that told me why!

Research shows that most people learn by doing, by experimenting and by playing... rather than just receiving information. So why are so many people still expecting students to sit and 'receive' or copy notes from the board or book? Recent surveys show rather bizarrely that, if anything, the numbers of students being asked to do this is increasing. It makes really very little sense. The schools that have more students who are really engaged in their learning are those who involve them in the design of lessons and activities. Doesn't this just make sense?

The challenge for authorities and schools is to help teachers develop their skills in new ways of learning and teaching for the 21st century. Modern students DO know an awful lot about how they like to learn. They want to be active, collaborative, do research, use ICT, present and refine ideas and share them. They want their teachers to be experienced learners as well. We all know this and yet many teachers are still just too nervous to ask them to be engaged in designing their learning, which is just a real shame!

It may start with sandcastles, but this active learning already continues through nursery into project work in primary schools ...... so what happens next where all too often students are being turned off learning?

(So which sand did the girls prefer? Well the UK sand for building sandcastles actually... but overall they much preferred the actual beaches of the Caribbean - funny that!)

The 'Great Schools Campaign' starts

I am delighted that BCSE (British Council for School Environments) has just launched its Great Schools Campaign. The launch took place on Tuesday 24th February 2009 at Portcullis House. Great schools - great idea .... how can anyone associated with education not get excited about anything that moves us all towards achieving great schools. But how do we know and be able to prove what they are?

This potentially very important campaign, will last for 18 months, and aims to create a national debate about great schools and explore the role that schools and learning environments play in tackling social inequality and improving the life chances of children and young people

As part of the Great Schools Campaign, BCSE is also organising a major Inquiry named the 'Great Schools Inquiry'. Demonstrating the importance of this inquiry, former Secretary of State for Education Baroness Estelle Morris has agreed to be the Chair. This will be an independent, evidence based investigation that will feed directly into practice on the ground and into national policy development.

This is a particularly timely initiative with the increasing tempo of the BSF initiative and the start of the Primary Capital Programme. BCSE Deputy Director Ian Fordham speaks with massive enthusiasm of the considerable interest from people engaged in all forms of education in supporting this inquiry. I'm one of them!

The research and focused conversations will be fascinating.... but talk is easy. What I am really excited about is to see what impact this inquiry and campaign will have on existing and future schools!

Beautiful pavements can exist....

They always say people never look up as they walk around - but do they look down? Walking along a pavement last week I suddenly realised that I was not walking on the usual tarmac or concrete slabs but some instead really beautiful stone slabs. They really are pieces of natural art in their own right. I know several of my former art teachers would use them as a stimulus for a whole number of lessons.

Although probably horrendously expensive they really have added to the whole area which has just been given a whole new identity.

It really demonstrates that when we talk about 21st century external learning spaces, sensory gardens and stimulating environments et al, we really must consider every aspect of the space from the floor to above ground level. We really should be providing spaces where students keep on discovering new aspects the more they enter the space.

Even the ground / floor we walk on can be interesting

Lets not ban phones - rather use their potential..

A brief article caught my eye recently - teachers chatting away on phones during lessons in India and thereby distracting students. Obviously that is bonkers, but as we get more into 21st century learning styles all round the world - wouldn't it be just so much better for the teachers to be trained to use their phones to demonstrate the real potential and power of them to their students instead of banning them?

Several schools still ban phones for students - but who are we kidding? The reality is that the students still do have them, but secreted away. Lets just admit that they exist and see if we can create the right climate for students in schools to be able to use them to help their own learning. As Professor Heppell always says: " a turned off device is a turned off child". Can't argue with that really.

Indoor Outdoor Spaces 2

Attending yet another meeting recently I was really taken by the new space we met in. The reception area that had been constructed acted as a connection between an old and new building.

Made almost entirely of glass, the space was light, airy, warm and acted as a main circulation space between the two buildings. It was modern and welcoming and featured sculptures and other art works. The walls of the adjoining buildings were also largely glass giving great transparency into the working aspects of the building.

Many schools are now looking for ways to enlarge their reception areas to serve numerous functions, including celebrating students work for parents and visitors to enjoy but also to increase the transparency for visitors as to the learning purpose of the school. 21st century learning is not a secret activity. By increasing the awareness of what is happening the more ways we can celebrate work and get involved in collaborative working.

Glass is arguably one of the most important construction materials today - used well it is a fantastic tool for opening up learning environments and allowing far greater collaboration and engagement than ever before.

I loved this cleverly designed space as did the colleagues I was meeting with. We all always say it but well planned environments really do make a difference!

'imagine'...21st century learning environments - a fab new website and guide!!

Last week saw the launch, by Partnerships for Schools (PfS), of a brand new website called 'imagine'. This fabulous new website, sponsored by PfS and Balfour Beatty, showcases examples of innovative school design from around the world and has been launched to inspire students, teachers and architects involved in the Building Schools for the Future and other school renewal programmes.

The 'imagine' website features research by architecture experts from the University of Sheffield, sponsored by Balfour Beatty, who have reviewed around 150 schools, colleges and universities from the UK and overseas. The project was inspired by Balfour Beatty and has been developed over a couple of years to help inform staff involved with BSF projects.

Partnerships for Schools (PfS) have issued a press release launching the 'imagine' website hailing it as an accessible way to help spread good practice. To read the PfS press release click here.

'imagine' will be updated on a regular basis, with new schools added along with a quarterly paper focusing on a key issue in the design of learning environments.

Anything that helps encourage intelligent discussion about new school designs and innovation will always be welcomed.... this is a great tool.

To accompany the launch of 'imagine' at the BSEC Conference in Manchester last week, was a fantastically designed little booklet, 'Challenge your thinking on design for learning' containing a few key questions and some post card size images of recent school designs from around the world.

Learning everywhere - Blue Plaques and new knowledge

Walking through Manchester recently I became aware of a number of blue plaques on buildings outlining things various of historical interest. They are everywhere throughout the country of course, but this time I actually read them in stead of just walking past. Now whilst I possibly don't need to know about the first commercial production of phenol, carbolic acid etc (see above), it did outline things I just did not know, and it was actually quite interesting as I walked along.

Lots can be done online, but if you don't know what happened in that area, you don't know what to look up and would never know.

The highly commendable blue plaque scheme celebrates success of people who did well in the past or historical events. I always wonder though, whether we do enough to celebrate people and achievements that happen contemporaneously!

This of course easily translates to schools and student achievement. Many schools are getting quite good at this, but many could do better!

Valentines Day Card - but you can't have it!

So my young daughters each made me a Valentines Day card today (aaah!!) - but then my two year old daughter (creator of the bottom painting) absolutely refused to let me have it. She showed it to me but, very unusually, refused to let go

She paints and does art work literally every day thanks to my fab wife Georgia. She was very proud of her efforts last week in creating this and knew it was special. She walked around holding it for just ages today but could I hold it........ only hours later! Really funny!

Wouldn't it just be great if we could maintain this excitement about learning and work with all learners! The exciting thing is, I believe, that as we develop 21st century learning styles that appeals to and attracts learners, we can!

Happy Valentines Day folks (and to those that know me - no I did not forget!)

Old friends, networking, communicating..

Professor Heppell and Kate Stewart of Team-ago-go

One of the main, if informal, benefits of conferences are, of course, the chance to catch up with great friends, make new friends / contacts and generally the whole networking process. The conversations are really where a huge amount of work is achieved and a chance just to see what other people are doing.

It was just great to spend some real informal time with friend Professor Stephen Heppell and also catch up with mutual friend Kate Stewart of the extremely successful and creative Team-ago-go. It is really difficult trying to match several diaries simultaneously for some downtime with a number of such massively busy people. Conferences are great opportunities to work but also to try and grab some time together for a laugh and a chat.

Student Voice - thinking about learning environments

A key part of this years BSEC conference was the competition for primary schools to redesign their learning environments. Taken very seriously by many, there were several finalists but winning school, Morely Newlands Primary School really had considered the competition very seriously indeed.

A group of their students received their awards from Professor Heppell, in the absence of Minister Jim Knight, and were asked a number of spontaneous questions. The question abut what they would change about their school was met with a number of responses, including "everything" to "get rid of the walls!"

The student words to support their submission really demonstrated the high expectations they wished for their own learning environment.

Our young learners really do know how they would like to learn and know what they want in a learning environment - it's just that they are not asked often enough, or in many schools - ever! This lack of engagement with learners about how to support their better engagement in their learning is frankly.... bonkers! Why wouldn't you?

21st Century Schools - BSEC Conference and Exhibition

I was pleased to attend the BSEC Conference in Manchester this week which, by all accounts, just get bigger and better with literally hundreds of delegates attending. This conference is all about developing 21st century learning environments to support 21st century education.

Speakers included friend Professor Stephen Heppell as Chair, (who is always really good at pin pointing on the real issues) Tim Byles from Partnerships for Schools, and Johnny Ball, who was extremely passionate about education and great environments. The televised message about the Mr Jim Knight, Minister for Schools, was as ever, very upbeat about the real progress made recently in the BSF programme, despite the skewed reporting about the National Audit Commission report published this week.

International perspectives were given by a friend of mine, the highly regarded Dr. Frank Locker, Education Facilities Planner. Frank who is from the States who went through many exemplar designs from around the world, many of which he had been involved with. Even more interesting was the detailed school and education evaluation tool he had developed to support schools on the journey to true 21st century education.

The exhibition part was the largest yet with a whole range of suppliers and organisations from Partnerships for Schools, BCSE through to education consultants, building firms, architects, local authorities about to start BSF to suppliers of building materials promoting such goods as AstroTurf, strong plastic hollow kerbs that allowed services to run through them through to to furniture.

Student Voice silences the 'professionals'

Attending the Hertfordshire BSF Bidders Day yesterday, it was really pleasing to see and hear students contributing to the presentation. This is not unusual as at many bidders days a group of students perform a piece of drama or similar about past, current and future education and then leave the stage.

Yesterday, a small student panel outlined their priorities and then took questions from the floor. Those adults who have not worked in schools recently and do not realise just how bright and articulate some students are should always beware!! A variety of questions were asked from the floor by a series of 'professionals' - some of appeared to have been 'made easy'. Oh dear - what a mistake!!!! They were immediately dispatched with a real clarity and understanding by a student who was, I fear, far more articulate than many of those present. It was brilliant.

Students there clearly expect to be involved, have clear priorities and even mused out loud whether they in fact be given a veto if they did not think bid teams had listened to them and addressed their needs. These needs were, as expected, predominantly about learning, something they displayed real passion for, not just for them but also for those students who would be using new facilities for years ahead. Regular readers of this blog will know that for years I have stressed the need to really engage students who frequently (but not always) know far more about their own preferred learning styles than their teachers.

It got to the stage yesterday where a number of people asked members of the student panel out loud if they were available for consultancy - I suspect they were only half joking!

Fiction and reality -

Harry Potter lives? Travelling through Kings Cross Station again yesterday I am always amazed by the queue of people waiting to photograph the sign for Platform 9 3/4. For the first time, and just for this blog, I joined them.

I think it's really great that the station have put/kept this sign up, and (although not photographed) have a half luggage trolley bolted to the wall as though it is 'on the way through' as in the film. It's a piece of fun and nothing more. A work of fiction that is almost becoming a piece of reality. Most people who see it are smiling, laughing and chatting away -tourists in their hoards go to find it - a tourist attraction in it's own right.

There is not enough fun in today's life, with increasing demands for functionality and efficiency. This slightly quirky place with what is effectively now a piece of installation art should remind us that as we design new learning spaces we are also about developing the whole person.

Hence my constant plea for student areas in schools with spaces designed for art and sculpture and other things created by, or significant to, the students, school or local community.

Slightly crazy -- but why not?

Research: on foot or on-line?

Team member Anna getting even wetter next to 'The Ram'

Working with a whole team of people this week I was fortunate to take part in an important exercise of trying to get to know a little about another city, again new to me, in just an hour and a quarter. The leader of the project had put forward a 'quiz' of sorts that, in small teams, had to be researched and answers submitted...

The weather was dreadful, cold with snow and sleet falling....... however my teammate and I decided to 'play the game' and went on foot finding all the answers by talking to people, asking questions and looking! Other less hardy teams decided that the only way was to sit in a well known coffee shop chain and go online to find all the answers on-line... they only ventured outside to have their photograph taken (a condition of the quiz) against the well known sculpture (The Ram) above. Good old fashioned research versus on-line research..

The quality of their answers with so many more additional facts (paragraphs of!!) meant that they 'won' the quiz, ....but did they have as much fun as we did? The experience of researching 'in the field' was such a laugh, even if we were cold and wet. But was it the most effective way?

Did we use technology - yes - we took the photo above on my phone and emailed it back - mobile technology in action - the on-line researchers did not think of doing that - bizarre really!

The balance of actual and online research is important for students. On-line research is fab, but it is only one part of learning. The social interaction of real research is an important social skill as well!

If only the weather had been better....

Preconceptions are usually wrong

I visited Hull (or Kingston upon Hull) for the first time last week - I am not sure what I was expecting really......

I guess stepping out of my hotel in the morning and seeing a marina bathed in sunshine was not it.... but it was a great way to start the day and really demonstrated the determination of the regeneration agenda that Hull are striving to undertake. (The view was so nice that the camera on my cell phone was put back to use!)

Hull are just as committed to achieving high standards in all their schools. They, like many other people, have their challenges, but the determination and vision to succeed, as demonstrated by a meeting with a room full of commited educators, is a great start.

The BSF (Building Schools of the Future) programme will help in this determination for improvement as they strive to achieve great 21st century learning environments as well as great learning opportunities for their students.... It will be hard work but if everyone pulls together.... then anything is possible and the results may surprise many people.

I try not to have preconceptions - they are so often wrong!

Digital Signage - how to do it...

A couple of posts ago I wrote about just horrible signage I encountered in a large hotel during a conference. (Click to read). Schools I have visited have mixed abilities as to how well and professional they are in their own signage. Some are brilliant with consistent high quality branded signs throughout the campus and printed signs - some are not!

There is also an increasing use of digital signage in schools, especially in school foyers, for visitors, parents and so on. This is right as we work to create 21st century learning environments. These digital signs not only are able to give notices but also celebrate and promote the successes of their students and the school as a whole. Often schools use wall mounted plasma screens.

But why do they tend to be limited to foyers? Wouldn't where students gather and meet be an even better place to celebrate success and show important messages. Some schools are now at last also placing screens in dining areas and other social areas with school news, alongside screens showing television news and so on.

The key requirement is that news and information in schools is presented in a high quality professional way - even down to brief notices. To get really high standards from students - we have to set standards and model it at all times! The days of a tatty scribbled note stuck on a door with some sticky tape really is over!

(Picture: I particularly liked the digital signage on show at the BETT show this year from MRG Systems Ltd - it's not new, it's not hard - but it just looks so professional)

21st century learning - Laptops / e-books for all.....

An ever increasing number of schools (and authorities) are moving towards the goal of every student having a hand held device of some form. A few weeks ago the new City Academy in London announced how every student would have an e-book from September and the story above refers to the new Archbishop Sentamu Academy in Hull which intends to issue every students with a laptop. They are by no means alone.

Having been to a meeting in Hull just a few days ago, I am very aware how great their aspirations are for increasing student engagement (and academic improvement) in their learning. It is a real priority and this move should really assist.

The move to laptops (or hand held devices) is ambitious and exciting. There is no doubt that many students are more engaged when they work using a range of ICT devices - many of them spend many hours on computers in their social time and are far more adept in utilising a range of features than their staff. Lets make use of this ability.

Times are changing fast - it was not long ago that biro's, calculators, mobile phones were all banned from schools at one time or another. Bonkers really when you look back.

The schools that embrace new technology will be those that most engage their students. Every school will be there eventually - the question is how brave are schools going to be right now in taking that step.

Not that long ago I was talking to a Headteacher from the Midlands who was frustrated with not being able to allow her students to use Facebook as a learning tool (due to the local authority internet security policy). This has not deterred them and they have hundreds of students using it in their own time to help each other with homework, project work and online discussion with teachers. And guess what - the student engagement has improved as has quality and amount of work undertaken. Whilst this is not proven researched data, the reports from schools working in this way seem to report the same findings. It would be a good research topic.

For those who are concerned about loss and theft of devices - the clear evidence so far is that they are well looked after and almost never go missing, even in the most challenging circumstances.

We are trying to create a truly 21st century education system for all we need to adopt the new technologies! Laptops (or handheld devices) for all - lets get there sooner rather than later.

For the full story about Archbishop Sentamu Academy in Hull - click here

"What was wrong with that?.... what is RIGHT with it!"

Photograph : Wales News Service

In several of today's papers is an article about a new primary school being built in Abergwynfi and the fact that the buildings are circular. Nothing too radical in that really in today's ideas of creating exciting 21st century learning spaces that allows multiple learning teaching styles. This is despite one newspaper calling the design revolutionary. Importantly the learners who will be using the new spaces think they are really cool".

Clearly there is a very clear rationale of how learning spaces are designed that fit with the schools (and authority's) vision for the future of learning. This IS the way forward and it is great that students, staff and authorities are thinking together on how spaces are designed.

However, several papers quote at least one parent who seems to want a forward thinking authority and teachers to revert to Victorian school design though: 'I have lovely memories of going to the old school. The desks were all lined up with the best children in the front and the worst at the back – what was wrong with that? Everyone knew where they were then.'

Whats' wrong with that? What's right with it!

Signage nightmare - must do better

This door possibly leads to the male bathroom - but are we sure?

A key part of excellence in any working environment is appearance and function. It has to be look good , be well cared for and allow people to operate effectively. An important aspect of any environment is the signage displayed. It should be informative, consistent useful and branded to equate with the school or organisation it is in.

At an upscale and upmarket conference in a large hotel near Heathrow last week, (which clearly receives huge numbers of international visitors), the signage was truly appalling. Without even considering the rest of the environment, the signage employed on the bathroom doors was, frankly, bizarre. It also helped totally 'lower the tone' of the environment. It's not even as though it is in different languages. It is plain tatty and so definitely NOT a 21st century learning environment.

If the service professionals can't get it right for what should / could be a great venue - how do we expect young people to! Really a case of 'they MUST do better!'

21st Century Knowsley 'Centre for Learning' opens.....

The first of the new fabulous BSF (Building Schools of the Future) Centres for Learning has opened in Knowlsey. With a fabulous if slightly controversial design, students are really enjoying the new approaches to learning in their specially designed spaces.

With few walls and a variety of agile learning zones, combined with the large multi purpose learning / performance / social space in the wonderful massive space, complete with atrium shown above, students cannot believe that this is THEIR learning environment.

Students should have state of the art 21st century learning environments -it will help raise their aspirations and allow them to work in a wide variety of ways. All round them students see new office buildings, shopping malls, cinemas reflecting the total desire for excellence and best practice.

There is massive world wide interest in the new learning centres, which are being built by Balfour Beatty, with whom I do absolutely masses of work. With one Centre for learning now open, there are six more to open over the twelve months replacing all Knowsley secondary schools. Many people are looking forward to visiting them to experience first hand just how great the students think they are.

Professor Stephen Heppell deservedly recognised at BETT

I was delighted to hear that my friend and mentor Professor Stephen Heppell was recognised at the BETT Awards dinner last week with the final award for Outstanding Achievement in ICT Education.

There is no one more deserving for this award and I suspect that no one can actually calculate how many people in the UK (let alone around the world) he has influenced or his projects various have helped!

Well done Stephen - richly deserved.

BETT (3) - international links with the Cayman Islands DO take place

Students from St. Pauls Convent School, Hong Kong, 'beam' into BETT to talk to students from Capel le Ferne Primary School (and being filmed as well)

Students from George Hicks and John Gray Schools of the Cayman Islands with Prof. Heppell (top left)

It was just fab being at BETT today, with all connections solved, and a) seeing UK students discussing their schools with students from international schools including Cayman and Hong Kong via 'i Chat' or similar and b) meeting former colleagues from Cayman.

The ability for students to easily and realistically talk and work with their peers anywhere in the world really does bring new dimensions to their learning and totally widens their experience. The students questioned each other about every possible thing about their schools and approaches to learning and totally ignored the adults standing by watching.

There are few limits with reliable and robust connectivity... the only limits are really within the imagination of students and staff....

(Photos taken with BlackBerry - so not as good as usual -apologies)

Former colleagues; Clive Baker, Head of Curriculum Services, Mark Ray, Head of ICT Integration of the Cayman Islands Department of Education Services with Prof. Stephen Heppell

BETT 2009 (2): internet down - oh dear!!

So the largest education ICT show, possibly in the world, suffered a major hiccup yesterday - the internet went down to all exhibitors. How embarrassing,,,,, I happened to be at Professor Stephen Heppell's stand for a live link up with colleagues in the Cayman Islands. Even the Cayman Minster of Education was supposed to be there, but there was nothing anyone could do.

Luckily governmental talks prevented the Minster from attending and the link had to be postponed. Just a slightly embarrassing notice to have to display - the top one replaced the one below.... but it is no better really.

But these things happen and I know the link will happen!

BETT 2009 (1): what a show!

It is always great to attend the BETT Show each year, one of the biggest Education ICT shows in the world. There are always some great new ideas to pick up - though you often have to look quite carefully amongst the market place atmosphere. Everyone is claiming to offer the solution to 21st century education, teaching and learning, VLE's, managed systems, online content, software, hardware and..... just so much more!!

Two days in and there are still new things to see as I walk around. My concern is that amongst the good ideas that schools and authorities see, is that they have a clear strategy for coherent purchases that integrate with current systems and schools / authorities priorities.

This is a great event with delegates from all over the world, including many many Minsters of Education - innovation, imagination and ways to imlement are the name of the game - i you have never been I really recommend it!

George Town Primary School, (Cayman Islands) back on track??

(Photo courtesy of the Caymanian Compass)

I was really pleased to read recently that the new primary school I worked on extensively in the Cayman Islands over the past two years, may yet avoid the international credit crunch. Not too long ago it was a possible project to delay due to national budget issues. Reading the Caymanian Compass online I see reprieve is possible. GTPS news article

I know only too well that it is a project very close to the heart of my old 'boss' Minister Alden McLaughlin, and he would have been heartbroken to give it up. I can visualise former colleagues in the Ministry really trying to find ways to deliver the project.

Not only do the students, staff and community of George Town Primary school REALLY need a new building, but the designs for it are really exciting and literally world class. A variety of flexible spaces really will allow such a wide range of learning and teaching to take place - it should well end up as an award winning new design standard for the Caribbean region.

A range of international experts collaborated on the design including Professor Stephen Heppell, Prakash Nair, and all the ideas collated and translated into such an exciting design by excellent architects Maureen O'Shaughnessy and Craig Goodman of CS & P from Toronto. The building design reflects all the aspirations for 21st century agile teaching and learning spaces, whilst interpreting many traditional Caymanian architectural designs into a very modern design. We are all excited about the possibility of this project being finished - the whole process to now has been a consistently positive process.

To my several Cayman readers - I know I have not written about Cayman Islands education for a while - more will follow I am sure!

Schools closed.... not if they had e-learning..

Several things happened this week to disrupt 'normality' (whatever that is). The freezing weather has closed schools for days, I have sat on trains for hours stranded by frozen points, all sorts of chaos.

Although my train did not move for a considerable time (twice - two sets of frozen points) I was still able to work non stop due to laptop and 'G card', giving me uninterrupted Internet access.

Many schools now have fully functional VLE's and closures really do not have to stop students (and staff) doing a full days work from a different location, even if it is home. This is the 21st century vision for learning and teaching in many local authorities and schools already. All that has to happen is ensuring reliable and robust technology, universal access and a VLE well populated with resources and tasks. Students would then be able to complete course work as appropriate and contribute to their online e-portfolios.

Add to this the ability to instant message then real dialogue between students and staff, collaboration between students and so on, can add considerably to the quality of the learning taking place.

Some students may regret it, but soon, very soon, (if not now), school closures will not mean no learning. I can't wait - it could be so exciting!

Good ideas - artworks from old letterheads..

What do schools do with old letterheads, compliments slips and so on when they 'rebrand' themselves. No matter how carefully you try and use up old stock - there is always some left, I know I've done it myself.

I really like the idea employed by The Avenue School in Reading, who with the help of Artist in Residence; Veronica Armstrong, did some great sculptures using both the old and new letterheads under the title 'Out with the Old, In with the New'. These are both displayed at the entrance of the school and form a great focal point for visitors and students alike.

The whole importance of artwork, and the displaying of work, by students, staff and professionals in proper gallery or exhibition spaces is really so important in providing a stimulating, creative and hopefully everchanging learning environment.

But basically, I just really liked this idea, I've not seen it before and thought I would share it for a creative start to 2009!

Happy New Year everyone!

Empty trains... do people really like working alone?

Travelling upto London to work for three days this week, I have been struck by just how empty the trains have been (and the Underground for that matter). My train carriage contained only two people including me. A great work time with no disturbances and a good time in an office environment to catch up! Here, 'hotdesking' is the norm for me, which is a really efficient use of space. But most people (including me) really do work better with people around them to interact with - when they want to.

It was almost lonely working in a sparsely populated office and train! Aaaah! Having said that, the few occasions when I do work from home I tend to work far longer hours and get far more done. It's about having a variety of working styles and environments I guess.

But seriously, there are still so many classrooms where students are expected to work in silence all the time, even when it's not appropriate to and this potentially actively hinders collaborative learning - it's just not how people behave in real life.

That's why it is so important that, as we build new learning environments, we really do provide a variety of learning spaces with the agility to change to be the most appropriate for that particular learning activity. Even more importantly, staff must be confident in using them - another major challenge!

Never mind - relax - chill - I now have two days with the family and the weekend before I start my work travels again. Next week: Manchester, Derby, London and who knows where else! I personally think that 2009 is going to be a really exciting year for me with, I hope, lots of opportunities - keep reading the blog and website if you want to know more. But for now:

Happy New Year Everyone and have a fab 2009!

The Pink Screwdriver!

The pink screwdriver from two angles - one showing the headlight!

Yesterday I posted a comment on the real need for colour and attractiveness in new learning environments to really help engage and motivate students and staff. This does, of course, also refer to the equipment that everyone uses. However, we don't have to be silly about it.... or do we?

My independent thinking 19 year old daughter is a dab hand at all sorts of things, including building 'kit furniture'. She has, however, decided that the really cool tool in her limited collection is her new small electric screwdriver - because it is pink! Even better it has a 'headlight' so you can see where the screw is. Bizarre really - I have not seen this feature before -but she loves it! (Makes you wonder how anyone has survived for so many years without a headlight really!!)

I really am not suggesting that we colour code all such resources in schools from now on, but all her female friends do think it is very cool! And... if you 'google' pink screwdriver it turns out that there are pages of pink tools aimed at the female market - so why haven't we cottoned on to this?

Lots of people have spent ages thinking about ways of attracting more and more girls into technology and previously messy workshop environments - maybe we should have been considering the resources in use all along. As many of the technology subjects in our 21st century technology curriculum become cleaner maybe we can introduce more colour, maybe including pink drills etc.. Or am I just being very deliberately provocative? :-) (But we do already have very bright orange, green and blue tools - why not pink?)


Very bizarrely, writing about pink objects seems to attract a huge internet following in its own right. A previous blog post of mine 'The Pink Train' about my youngest daughter's new toy has attracted literally hundreds of hits in it's own right. Perhaps this Pink Screwdriver blog post will as well.


Have a great New Year!

Lets make 2009 a year of colour and excitement in our education environments!

Lets bring some colour to our lives!

I was talking the other day to a number of educationalists about furniture for schools. One said, quite determinedly that all chairs etc for secondary schools should be black, brown or dark gray - that's all. For heavens sake -why?

Maybe bright pink is not the answer for everywhere, but lets bring some colour and excitement into our learning lives!

The importance of colour and environments plays a huge role in how people work and perform in that space. If we give boring and dull, then it sets the mood. Carefully co-ordinated environments designed for a variety of purposes, with a variety of furniture and colours, can really help shape exciting vibrant learning spaces, that will, in turn, help creative and innovative learning.

Lets really all try and make sure that 2009 is a year for helping create exciting and innovative learning spaces - for every one's sake!

Oh and HAPPY NEW YEAR to every one!

Well being - we all need it!

Spotted in a UK school recently was a 'well being' room for students (and staff - after school). It reminded me of when working in the Education Ministry of the Cayman Islands. We had our own small 'relaxation' or 'de-stress' room, complete with reclining chair, soft lighting, fabric round the walls for atmosphere, soft music and joss sticks to light (if you could bear the smell!). If you were having a bad day you could spend a period of time in there in peace and calm.

We do need to value and look after our staff, they are always our greatest resource. Another school organised massages and well being events for its staff during developmental days - great! But these things can be just a little superficial (although popular).

The whole approach to working with a staff team is about every aspect of the relationship. In these days of extremely rapid change, the team is essential - the relationships crucial. It is not just education that is changing, students are and inevitably, staff are as well - they have to.

How we treat them has to be as outstanding and equal to (or better) than anywhere in the professional workforce. The need for true professionalism cannot be in doubt.

How was the 'de-stress' room used in the Ministry - the excellent thought was there, but the problem was everyone was too busy to use it!

Perhaps we all really do need to evaluate our work practices!

The blog now reaches over 90 countries

I am staggered to discover that readership of this blog has now reached 91 countries with many thousand readers. Additionally the readership figures have also increased by almost fifty percent in the last two months - amazing!

My real thanks to all those people who have taken the time to visit the blog, no matter how briefly, and those hundreds of people who keep coming back.

I will try and continue to make constant updates and keep it interesting, and not too serious, as I work and move all over the place.

Again thanks to everyone.

Thanks to everyone

Transparency and collaborative learning - not here!

As learning in the 21st century moves towards more collaborative, cross discipline teaching, with far greater transparency and openness, we are often reminded of the journey that staff and students have to undertake to feel comfortable and confident in new ways of working. Solid walls are being replaced to create far more agile spaces, with movable partitions, and, if there are walls, they are glazed with clear glass. It looks, feels and is different!

No longer is what happens in classrooms a secret activity shared by just the occupants in the room at that particular time. Nor should it be.

With increasing numbers of adults with different roles and skills working in schools, with older students mentoring younger ones, with stage not age learning, there has never been a better time for students and staff to be both excited and honest about the learning experiences taking place.

I haven't posted a depressing picture for ages. In fact I haven't seen such a closed unwelcoming door for years. The photograph above was in a school I visited some time ago, but it really does demonstrate one end of the spectrum regarding the preparedness of staff to embrace the emerging ethos of sharing and transparency. IIn fairness, this was the only door of the school like it!)

Giving staff the confidence to work in new ways is a long and important journey. The planning and professional development opportunities to develop skills take lots of time. Not getting that bit right with the most nervous or determinedly 'anti' staff can undermine the whole process in schools!

Get it right, and the learning opportunities and experiences can be just amazing!

Good ideas - fitness trails in dead spaces

What do you do with a spare piece of land between the neighbours walls and an external hardcourt? So easily could it become a piece of nothing space, or the dreaded smokers corner! Most schools have such dead spaces, good ideas are always welcomed..

The answer for Islington Arts and Media School was to make it a fitness trail - what else? This photograph really does not do it justice as it cover three sides of the hard play space with two lanes,with lots of activities, one for each direction, thereby effectively creating a loop. With the mature trees in place it almost looks like a woodland trail.

Students love it, it is very different, and they get more engaged in physical activities as a result. It is challenging whilst fun.
.

It's just a really nice idea. I almost was tempted to try it.... almost but not quite....... Maybe after Christmas.... maybe!

Community Art and engagement really does make a difference

Retracing my steps to a former workplace in Islington after nearly eight years, I again came across the large and very long Millenium Mural down the entire wall of a building. I had forgotten all about it, it is huge! Nearly ten years on, it really has stood the test of time and become a real feature of that part of town.

People will always talk about content and style, but it is still there after almost a decade - it really brightens the street up, and even better,there is little evidence of any damage.

I frequently talk about including art into both learning and community environments, it just adds so much. When the stakeholders are engaged in the design and hopefully creation, the ownership and sense of belonging really kicks in!

The same applies to schools. Celebrating art work by students throughout the schools (not just the foyer and art rooms) is a must. The attention it gets is remarkable and a real motivating factor for students, staff, paren and the local community. As we design new schools, the need for purpose built sculpture spaces is just a really vital aspect to be considered.

In Islington this community would be a much duller place without the mural! Much like learning environments that do not celebrate the arts really!

The detail about the Millenium Mural:

Professor Stephen Heppell talking about ICT and the future

I recently came across a new blog Creative Tallis. This is posted by students and staff at the Thomas Tallis School in Greenwich, London, who are interested in creative learning. They apparently meet regularly to discuss what this means for the learning actuvuties that takes place in their school.

Part of the post includes a video by my friend and 'guru' Professor Stephen Heppell who talks about the future of learning and technology, but including some history as well. As always it is a well reasoned 'chat' that makes so much sense. And, of course, he has been proved to be right so often!

An interesting view (Blog post dated 14 December 08) click here!

As for Creative Tallis - wouldn't it be just great if every school were so proactive about the learning that they want in their schools. Talking regularly about approaches to learning must have a positive impact in the school and is a great form of ongoing development. This must be especially true as they involve students, who are often so much wiser about their own preferred learning styles than the teachers!

I will watch this blog with interest.

School Environments - light, colour and space

I had the privilege of visiting The Avenue School in Reading today, a special school for 2 - 19 year students with autism and those with very complex special needs.

The whole of this brand new building is just fabulous, being spacious, light and airy, from the welcoming reception through to the classrooms. Just one of the many great features is a three storey soft play area. Whilst that is truly amazing, even the other side of the wall has been made a real feature with windows, coloured panels, plants and soft furnishings.

This school has a really great environment and enormous attention has been paid to the detail that makes it so appropriate for these students with a wide range of needs. I will post some more photos later.

As always I suspect that some of this has been due to the total dedication, enthusiasm and energy of the Headteacher and her team who have been involved with every stage of the design process.

There are, of course, a few lessons to learn - there always are with any new school, but there are many lessons that those designing new special schools should take from this just fab school.

The outside wall of the three storey soft play area and some of the school environment

School corridors - circulation spaces - done well

I really don't like corridors in schools but if we have to have them lets make them multipurpose and attractive. Too many corridors in schools are dark gloomy and totally dedicated to simply people moving them.

Some do get it right - Williamstown High School in Australia, (see photo above), has really managed to achieve light airy corridor areas that combines with learning, social and display spaces. It looks great!

Circulation spaces - learning from others

Schools are so often tied into corridors as single purpose spaces when they are thinking about new designs. This is really an issue that really needs thinking about carefully though.

Many innovative schools are now abolishing corridors as a waste of space and incorporating circulation space with break out areas, feeding areas, social areas and learning zones. It is such a better use of space. It is hard to encourage some teachers, locked into tradition, so see the benefits of this change of space.

One only has to look at the change in public circulation spaces that is taking place all round us to get the message across. Railway stations used to be cold draughty spaces with one function - to get people on / off the train. Now, apart from very effectively moving people through the space, they have several social aspects, shopping, eating, relaxing, with meeting and social areas. Manchester Station is really quite a good example. Even better, the new station at St Pancras is quite an experience with trains almost tucked away out of space. A colleague recently admitted they went there for the experience and the shops without wanting a train. How things have changed!

This change mentality is what we need to do in schools regarding circulation spaces - these new environments are what our young people are used to - why shouldn't they be in schools?

Stacking furniture.. encouraging agility in learning spaces.

Whilst I am not convinced of the need for desks as such, I really liked the adaptable desks I saw today. With wheels on the back legs and a handle to move them by cut into the surface they were certainly easy to move around and did stack very neatly. (See photo below) They would certainly clear lots of space in learning environments and were light enough to encourage a range of configurations.

People are coming up with a wide range of solutions to allow agility in learning environments - with so many ideas coming on the market, there must be things for most people.

The biggest battle is to ensure people select and buy what will be most appropriate, attractive and comfortable for students - they're the ones who have to use it!

In some cases students have selected from a limited range provided by a specialist supplier, and then their ideas were rejected. So why ask them?

(More on furniture over the next few weeks)

Celebrating events - a job done well.

This really is a blog about education NOT football, it's just that I have visited two football grounds in two days. Tuesday was to the Derby County football ground for the Open Day of the Derby City BSF (Building Schools of the Future) programme.

Derby City has high expectations of the BSF programme and are, this year, the most improved local education authority in the UK. They are ambitious and eager for every student to be able to achieve excellence in outstanding learning environments.

Students from St. Benedicts School also performed extracts from a musical they had written themselves to the packed room of mainly dark suited men. They celebrating a wide range of talents and skills. Why shouldn't this type of performance be accredited as a form of project work? They had certainly worked extremely hard. with professional actors and developed a range of skills - you can't take a written test of this!

However, whilst waiting in the foyer, I couldn't help but notice a slightly tatty disposable coffee cup in the display cabinet against the crystal and silver ware. Surely no one left it there by accident? Then I noticed it was signed. I wrote a post two days ago (see below) about the poor celebration of sporting heroes just below, with their statues being placed outside car parks - this is the opposite!

Bemused I asked about the coffee cup -it turns out that in 2005, Derby player Paul Peschisolido kicked a ball towards goal during the match against local rivals Nottingham Forest. The ball was missing the goal until it hit this coffee cup which had been thrown onto the pitch and was deflected into the goal! It was allowed as no player had touched it. Although it looks rather out of place, no one can argue that they have not celebrated this strange story in style and continue to do so!

You cannot always predict what success looks like or what causes it.

How do we celebrate the many successes of our students if what they have done does not conform to the expectations we have or, as one Headteacher said to me, "within the celebration framework of the school" -what ever that is!

A lesson here in all sorts of ways! celebration, display, expectations, and so much more!

Managed Learning Environments... Green is good!

I visited the impressive 'managed IT services' at Suffolk Council in Ipswich today, operated by BT, to see the extent of the integration of services and the technical backup for the county wide service. This relieves the multiple end users having to worry about this aspect of their systems or spending money deploying their limited resources. It also, of course, allows integration across all the various services.

Having the centralised technical staff phoning you informing you have a fault in your system before you have noticed it your self must be encouraging for Headteachers, and the many other users of the system! I just wonder why they did not notice themselves? L0ts of green icons on the screens is good - red is bad. If only everything in education could be monitored so easily.

The photograph shows the desk of one of the system monitoring personnel... I get confused with two screens - if I had four to monitor ... eek!!

Celebrating people :Statues - a job half done!

Visiting Ipswich to day for a meeting in an office block near Ipswich Town Football Club (ITFC), I was pleased, but then very disappointed, to see two statues of key people near the stadium.

Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson, both sporting icons, former England football team managers, and former managers of ITFC, have had statues placed in their honour just outside the stadium in different roads. However, in placing them, little thought seems to have been given as the environment they were placed in and the final look to give them the respect they deserve, both as pieces of art and as to who they portray. They both back onto car parks and these ultimately therefore dominate any view.

Even in the short time I was there, people were taking photographs - but the entire backgrounds of both are various cars, which is really a bit naff! It could be a planning issue, but that makes no sense, maybe it just needs a bit more thought and design!

It would have been much better if there was a backdrop behind each of the statues to really make them the features they deserve to be, without the rather nasty distractions behind.

We are spending a lot of time talking about celebrating students work in learning environments. We really must model this in the community as well. It's a pity but these could be displayed so much better.

Students using technology... when THEY need it, not when they are being told they need it!

For any school in the BSF programme, being forced to undertake a 'decant' period is not easy at any stage. Whilst old schools are demolished and new schools built, staff and students end up in modular 'villages, or 'part in part out' of existing buildings with swapping around as parts are developed. Occasionally they are slightly more fortunate are going into empty buildings, such as old primary schools. I am fortunate to visit a variety of sites and really admire the resilience, ingenuity and determination of students and staff in these situations.

Visiting such a school recently was a really pleasant surprise, with a few odd quirks. Temporarily in a primary school building, despite the older students having the stair handrails nearer their knees than waists, the way the staff had livened up their learning environments was refreshing. Of course, for these students this is the only chance they have - and the school had really done a great job in ensuring it is the most positive experience possible.

Particularly impressive was the use of ICT (often a real challenge in a temporary situation) in one of the design technology rooms I visited... exactly how it should be. Students working on a variety of tasks, individually and collaboratively, were totally engaged in their learning. They had a pile of laptops and other devices available to use, if and when they needed it for the work they were doing. Ah - at last!

This was not a lesson controlled to the stage of ' Right now this is the time for a bit of ICT' - this was the students being given initiative to be responsible and decide on how they wanted to approach their own learning and what resources to use when. Of course, they were fantastic and everone was so motivated by the projects they were doing that no one even noticed us enter the room.

Whilst it could not be said for every lesson, this really was a great example of how using technology as a part if the learning process could / should be done. And this was in a decant situation with a less than ideal environment. Really exciting to see! If only everyone.........

Teachers TV - a wonderful resource

Visiting Teachers Television again for another meeting yesterday, I am always taken by the energy and commitment I see there (or passion), to make really high quality programmes for teachers, frequently made by teachers. Click here for the Teachers Television website.

The resources available online and through the Teacher TV channel are really high quality. Research seems to show that younger teachers especially use them but more established teachers less so. This is a real pity as they are a wonderful resource and act as great professional development. With over 3,500 programmes, there really is something there for everyone!

Interestingly, more and more students are watching these programmes as well, especially during school holidays. This gives them more knowledge about their learning - how long before they challenge their teachers on approaches to learning? Wouldn't that be great!

Schools of the Future and 21st century learning - common views join together

Tim Byles, Chief Executive, Partnership for Schools answering questions

There are so many conferences and workshops right now about BSF, learning and a whole range of other education issues that deciding which ones, if any, are worth attending can be difficult. The deciding factor must always be the quality of the event and the usefulness of the information that is given. That can be hard to decide in advance, but having high quality speakers always helps.

Enthusiasm abounded today at the first Education Guardian BSF Conference 2008 in London. The pacy presentations followed all aspects of BSF, from policy to practice, ensuring high quality design followed a variety of seminars covering stakeholder engagement, sustainabilty, responding to personalised learning, the need for real input from students and the vital role that FF&E should play in creating agile learning spaces.

A first rate team of twenty one speakers including Tim Byles, Russell Andrews (both PfS), Sir George Sorrell (Sorrell Foundation), Richard Simmons (CABE) and so many more ensured quality presentations and debate with lots of opportunities for questions.

As ever the networking between professionals at these events is always useful.

Seeing so many people dedicated to improving learning opportunities for our young people always makes me wonder just why so many other people find it so hard to accept that learning has to change. It may seem obvious to all of us, but the understanding is certainly not universal. There really is a lot to do to keep engaging people in the journey that has to take place.

(from l-r:Jane Briginshaw, Hd of Design DCSF, Mairi Johnson, Director of Design PfS, Mike Foster, Project Director Transformation, Sunderland BSF, Keith Pappa BDP, Richard Sommons, Chief Executive, CABE, Ruth Kennedy, Chair.

Sharing conversations - transforming education

I led two of the workshops on 'Research and Development priorities for Local Education Authorities' and chaired the afternoon session at the 'Transform Schools Partners Conference' last Friday held at the Manchester Museum of Science.

An interesting decision was to have a key note speaker representing the private sector. Speaker: Dr Julie Madigan, Chief Executive of the Management Institute was really effective in giving examples of how management efficiencies have been achieved. This inevitably got delegates to consider how these could be transferred into their own organisations, whilst Russell Andrews, Director of Education and Planning from Partnerships from Schools addressed many contemporary issues and thoughts about the future of assessment. Add to this the inevitable and valuable professional networking, discussions and opportunities to share ideas which always take place, resulted in what seems to have been a very day for all .

The workshops and speakers really challenged many aspects of current practice. So many people talk about the need for a cultural shift in our education system, but few seem to have have many ideas as to how to really successfully achieve it. That's the real issue we all have to really address.

Cayman Brac recovers after Hurricane Paloma

Photo: courtesy of Cayman News Service

Where there is real determination and dedication amazing things can happen! Not long after Hurricane Paloma wrecked the schools on Cayman Brac, the High School is already opening its doors this week, at least for the oldest students, to minimise disruption to exam courses. This is really meaningful to me as I was, at one stage, the Principal of this school.

This has only been possible due to the determination and enthusiasm of staff, all of whom have also had serious issues as a result of the hurricane. Some are homeless, some have lost possessions etc.

A clear emergency plan and really effective leadership has really helped ease the situation and will ensure that the students, the majority of whom have also had their lives thrown into total turmoil, regain some normalacy and consistency as soon as possible.

I really congratulate my former colleagues in the Ministry, Department and education staff for the real focus and energy in helping their young people - this works even better in small communities where everyone knows everyone and can help meet individual needs! (A bit like small schools really!)

21st century learning spaces - sharing conversations and ideas

Having opportunities to sit, share ideas and discuss approaches to designing 21st learning environments is always a great and thought provoking experience. Talking to architects, designers and educators from other countries is even better, especially if they are 'on the same page' as we consider what are called 21st century learning environments. Today it was with the impressive SHW Group from Dallas who really specialise in education settings. Not only did they share many great images, but the majority of the lengthy discussion was about processes they undertook to achieve them. Predictably with designers dedicated to learners, there really was great commonality in views.

The change of learning styles and the future ongoing change means the conversations should never stop. Therefore only by designing new agile spaces can the learning environment possibly support this constant development. The same obviously applies to what ICT in education looks like but the change is even faster!

A large part of the UK Building Schools of the Future (BSF) initiative is, whilst producing new schools, a competitive bidding process between construction companies in a very very short time scale. As a result the cross fertilisation of ideas between firms is really restricted and basically does not happen. We are really missing opportunities here to learn from new schools already built across the UK and ensure the lessons learnt are incorporated, where appropriate, in new schemes. Isn't this a priority for our students?