So the early contours of the new government’s approach to ongoing school rebuilding is becoming a good deal clearer. Michael Gove has a short video statement here that includes a continued commitment to renewal and renovation …..
… and you can watch the full parliamentary statement with the debate that followed in full here :
In summary, 715 school revamps already signed up to the scheme will not now go ahead, with a further 123 academy schemes to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
A good deal more detail can be found following the links on this page. He also argued that a good deal of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme was “massively flawed” and “over-bureaucratic”.
We’ve been busy in the media offering a commentary on this – you can fast-forward to 2 hours 12 minutes into the Radio Five Live breakfast show here on the iPlayer to hear my five-minute interview. Broadly, we’ve been saying that the consequences of cutting the school building programme are significant – we know decent school environments have an impact on pupil attainment, behaviour and wellbeing as well as teacher recruitment and retention.
We’re hoping that the announced review will come up with significant and creative ideas to keep the renewal of our school buildings on track – whether through refurbishment, or refreshing current buildings, or re-using other buildings.
We’re totally in agreement with Michael Gove about the way that waste and bureaucracy have been a real drag on the school building programme – we must find new ways of doing things that are smarter, and more efficient.
But, at the same time, most of all we have to keep our eyes on the prize, and remember that investment in school buildings is also an investment in teachers. Good school buildings deliver results for children, teachers, parents and communities, and help get our children ready for the challenges of adulthood.
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A busy day indeed – and some very useful posts and updates on Twitter from the CfSD/BCSE throughout the day, thanks for that.
It is good to see you being positive about the opportunities, and in the current climate you are right to emphasise the link that “decent school environments have an impact on pupil attainment, behaviour and wellbeing as well as teacher recruitment and retention,” and the the review should focus on creative ways to reaching this whilst reducing waste.
My worry, outlined in a longer post on my own site than I will do here, is that the media conversation is still on the basics of the environment – fixing the leaking roof, as if that will magically improve attainment in itself. It may indeed have some influence, but it is not enough. The journey we have been on is stronger than that, has been leading us in more interesting directions. If we just focus the conversation on the basics, no matter what the politics, we will miss the greater prizes, more than even investment in teachers, in lieu of low hanging fruit. If schools now do have some freedom, and can take up this debate themselves, they should be encouraged to continue the debate around innovation.
The BCSE played a powerful role in taking people on journeys, whether actual journeys to incredible centres of learning such as Hellerup and Ordrup, or other journeys through your publications, and I hope you will continue to help take schools on that journey of innovation around learning and learning space, no matter what the focus on efficiency and savings may be!