A new report, out today from education innovator Futurelab, questions whether learning spaces in the future should be very different from 'traditional' schools. The report suggests that we urgently need to debate the future of education - from how young people learn to the space in which they learn - if the Government's aim to rebuild or renew every secondary school is to be truly effective and deliver learning spaces suitable for the 21st century.
The report, entitled What if... Re-imagining Learning Spaces, argues that new learning spaces should reflect developments in digital technologies, personalised learning and potential changes to the school, curriculum and assessment methods. It also suggests that education should take advantage of young people's interest in collaboration and information sharing. But the most important consideration is how to organise space to support effective learning in the 21st century, and to provide flexible approaches that can incorporate and harness rapid changes in society. For example, this could mean that the traditional classroom model of a single teacher delivering a lesson to 30 pupils may no longer be appropriate.
Tim Rudd, Senior Researcher at Futurelab, said: "We need to ask not what buildings we want but what sort of education we need in the future. In the longer term, students will require greater choice over what they learn, how they learn and even when and where they learn. A debate is needed to ensure that new schools are flexible enough to exploit digital technologies, encourage collaboration and provide learners with the skills they require, both now and in the future."
Other innovative ideas raised in the report include:
- What if we could re-design our education system from scratch?
- The possibility of school being optional, with choice over wh we start our formal education
- Thought-provoking future scenarios for the learning spac, digital tools and future practices
- The merging of real and computer-generated worlds - what are the possibilities in 30 years time?
Futurelab is a not-for-profit organisation that is tapping into the huge potential offered by digital technologies and innovative practice, to develop pioneering learning resources and approaches that support education for the 21st century. What if... Re-imagining Learning Spaces can be downloaded from www.futurelab.org.uk/learningspaces.
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For further information
Futurelab: Lacia Ashman, tel: 0117 915 8222,
lacia.ashman@futurelab.org.uk;
About Futurelab
Futurelab is passionate about transforming the way people learn. Tapping into the huge potential offered by digital and other technologies, it is developing innovative learning resources and practices that support new approaches to education for the 21st century.
Working in partnership with industry, policy and practice, Futurelab:
- incubates new ideas, taking them from the lab to the classroom
- offers hard evidence and practical advice to support the design and use of innovative learning tools
- communicates the latest thinking and practice in educational ICT