At a packed event of 150 teachers, educationalists, MPs, designers, contractors and policy makers at the Houses of Parliament yesterday – hosted by Graham Stuart, Chair of the Education Select Committee – we launched our latest publication Free Schools Thinking. It comes on a historic day – when the British government announced its Comprehensive Spending Review and when funding and budgets in schools and other public services have been cut. Yet despite times of austerity, we argue that it more vital than ever for schools to be ‘freed up’ to think differently about the way they work in terms of the places, spaces, times and people who can help make our education system compete with the best in the world.

We are really pleased to have received some excellent comments from a number of high profile education leaders and some great media coverage. If you want to add your own comment, please email me at ian[at]bcse.org.uk. Our Free Schools Thinking website is also live and we are now looking for funding and support to turn this into a major site and resource for all those with an interest in New Schools, Academies and with our Free Schools Thinking approach.

Free Schools Thinking: Places and Spaces for Teaching and Learning

Comments on our Free Schools Thinking publication so far include:

“The Free Schools thinking report consists of some very good ideas”

Sir Michael Wilshaw, Principal, Mossbourne Academy

“The Free Schools Thinking report demonstrates how adaptable virtually any building can be to accommodate a learning environment and is an excellent guide for anyone that is considering establishing a school. Cast aside any preconceptions, encourage a truly open vision and together we can grow real opportunities from the most unlikely ideas.”

Rob Thornton, Birkenshaw, Birstall, Gomersal and East Bierley Community Trust, Kirklees

“The Assocation of School and College Leaders (ASCL) would have significant concerns about some of the kinds of places that are under consideration for free schools. All school leaders know that the learning environment is a crucially important factor in the quality of education schools are able to provide. But the document gives a helpful and balanced description of the issues around different types of buildings and would inform essential discussions amongst any potential new providers”

Brian Lightman, General Secretary, The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL)

“The Free Schools Thinking report represents a welcome and imaginative guide for any group committed to starting up a free school.  Moving one from the BCSE’s ‘New 3Rs – refresh, remodel and reuse’ – it opens up a variety of opportunities for cost effective new schools”.

Dr Elizabeth Sidwell, Chief Executive, Haberdashers Aske’s Academies Federation

“Yet again the BCSE are at the forefront of thinking about where schools are heading in the future. The report looks at the new freedoms available to all academies and free schools and puts them to the test in the real world. It also sends out a very important message to schools and teachers across the country – free up your thinking about the places, spaces and times where teaching and learning can take place, and rethink the people who can best help support young people’s learning”

Dr Anthony Seldon, Master, Wellington College

“School buildings in this country should reflect the priorities and aspirations of a leading nation. But we need to think sustainably and economically. A great school building does not, of itself, make a great school. There are, however, many buildings which could be transformed into inspirational locations for schools as well as learning centres for communities, in a commercially and environmentally positive way. It takes lateral thinking and partnership working. Free schools now have an opportunity to tap into a rich seam of potential new locations and this excellent publication is an important step in developing new thinking.”

Sir Bruce Liddington, Director General of E-ACT

“This is an exciting and very timely report.  Academies have shown how re-thinking what schools could look and feel like raises aspirations for whole communities.  Equally, some of the most inspiring learning spaces I’ve seen have been in uncoventional settings.  This report demonstrates the importance of a thoughtful and creative approach to how we design spaces to enable young people to thrive”

Andy Schofield, Principal, Wellington Academy

Media coverage of our Free Schools Thinking publication includes:

Conservative Home

BBC Online

Independent on Sunday

Building Design

Related posts:

1. Free Schools Thinking – what is our new report saying?
2. Free schools – connecting the dots
3. Academies and Free Schools Advisory Service

A few years ago I was lucky enough to share a platform with Larry Summers the now Chief Economic Adviser to Barack Obama who said to a packed conference of education professionals:

“if we had the same commitment to evaluation in medicine that we have traditionally had in education, we would still be leeching people to make them better”.

That’s a pretty challenging view but how many expensive initiatives, programmes and policies in the fields of education as well as the worlds of design and school architecture are properly tested? How many have shown that they can actually do what they promised to do?

In the kind of downswing that we find ourselves in at the moment, we need to be able to show everybody that this is worthwhile. And rethinking education and redesigning our understanding of what schools are, is very worthwhile.

In the technical world, we’ve seen the emergence of open-source software – great applications shared in an open-handed way to outpace closed proprietary applications. We’ve seen the way that an open release of government data can shake out great talent that we didn’t even know was there – taking that data, mashing it up and using it to describe problems in ways that we would never have thought to do.

Yet, like most policy areas, this has often been conducted in silos. Unbreakable circles monopolised by the few not the many, commissioning ‘new thinking’ from each other. But new thinking is expensive and the vast majority of good practice from across the field remains untapped

Open-source thinking changes the game and results in better, smarter outcomes. We want to do the same for the thinking around innovation in education. This is not about hierarchies or closed ‘expert’ forums. This is not a managerial approach designed to ‘empower stakeholders’ and apply political benchmarks in a mechanistic way.

The web allows us to share ideas, sign post them and crowdsource improvements to them in ever more simple ways. Today, we’re launching The Centre for School Design to help build the community of people that can make that work. We’re here to signpost great schools, to flush out the thinking behind them and putting it somewhere that we can all get at it. We want to make it easier for the people who have worked in education, design and the built environment to share their experience with the rest of us.

We want to look at more than just the way that schools are designed, built and delivered. There is also the question of the design of the education system itself, the use of design thinking to solve intractable social problems and the harnessing of the power of the built environment for good.

There has been a lot of talk recently of using the ‘wisdom of crowds’ to inform policy and practice on the ground. We hope that The Centre for School Design will make that a reality in the worlds that we work in. In the coming weeks we will share some of the projects that we have already developed and we look forward to working with you to develop new partnerships and collaborations.

We’re only here as the hosts for this. It’s your party really though. I hope you’ll join in.

Related posts:

1. New ‘post bureaucratic age’ think tank puts school design centre stage

A new think tank which places design at the heart of the way the education system works is being launched today. It aims to lead national thinking and shape policy and practice in both education and the built environment, and harness the learning power of mass collaboration.

The Centre for School Design is an initiative from the British Council for School Environments (BCSE), and will be hosted by the charity.

Co-founder and BCSE chief executive Ty Goddard, said:

“We are at a crucial time in the cycle of UK government and public policy. Public sector budgets are being closely scrutinised and everyone is being asked to deliver more for less. We need an independent voice which can lead national debate on education, give authoritative guidance on best practice and value for money, and make the crucial links between design, educational function and achievement”.

A key feature of the new body will be the use of the web, harnessing the power of social media to develop and inform the work of organisations across the sector. Elements of this work will include:

• a regular blog that shares ideas, materials and information in real time;
• the use of video, podcasts and other media to set the agenda;
• web 2.0 technologies to enable people to connect with each other and navigate their way through current challenges in education, design and construction;
• the development of a series of strategic partnerships with national bodies, and academic partners, to deliver and commission pioneering research.

Co-founder and BCSE deputy chief executive Ian Fordham added:

“We’re heading into a post bureaucratic age when it comes to garnering expertise. Utilising the web and related technologies will give us the opportunity to capture a massive range of knowledge and expertise, as well as sharing what works in a collaborative online environment. We need to spread ideas as they happen and the web allows us to do this in ever more simple ways. There is a lot of talk of using the ‘wisdom of crowds’ to inform policy and practice on the ground – we will make that a reality in the worlds of education and design.”

In its first year, the organisation plans to launch a series of major projects, reports and events, including a collaboration with a national partner to identify emerging practice in tackling poverty and disadvantage through design and a national education summit to help shape education policy of the new government.

Ends

Notes to editors:
The British Council for School Environments (BCSE) is a charity and membership organisation made up of organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors. It acts as a forum for exchange, dialogue and advocacy for anyone interested in the design, construction and refurbishment of learning environments.

The BCSE’s pioneering work includes:

• Creating a unique network of over 400 public and private organisations across the education, design and construction sector
• Bringing the work of Kunskapsskolan and parent promoted schools to a national stage for the first time in the UK
• Starting the first school design awards
• Developing the Big School Makeover programme – a national initiative to help schools transform spaces and make a big difference with a small amount of resource.

It will be launched on the 25th January at 1 London Bridge at 5pm-6.30pm. For further information please contact Ben Furner on 01273 463461, 07946 355795 or ben@furnercommunications.co.uk

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