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www.futurelab.org.uk Building and Re-designing Schools: Student’s Ideas and Opinions [email protected]
www.futurelab.org.uk
Building and Re-designing Schools: Student’s Ideas and Opinions
‘Appetite for Research?’
• Key areas: – pupil participation– knowledge/participation in capital programmes– perceptions of learning, technologies in the future– Future participation around learning spaces design
• Sample/respondents:– KS3/4 pupils– 2,967 respondents– Over 2 weeks (1 wk half term) – appetite for research?– Not representative – exploratory – should more pupil
research be done?
‘General participation low’• 77% have never been involved in school council
• 26% have voted only once on school matters (+49% not at all) - (t-75%)
• Only 5% voted 4/5 times or more
– Pupils not encouraged to participate?
– Despite policies and initiatives such as ECM, Personalisation, UNCRC?
– Out of kilter with wider socio-technological developments?
‘Still little participation in capital programmes’
• 58% have never heard of redesign programmes
• A further 25% have heard of them but know little else
• Only 6.5% know exactly what they are
• Of those who are aware of capital programmes, 60% have not been involved in related activities – does this actually mean this is more than average?! (40% have been)
Should we engage pupils more?• Should capital programmes have a greater profile –
part of debate about ‘the future of education’?
• Should pupils be more involved?
• And if so, what should that involvement or engagement be?
• Should capital programmes be seen a as a potential learning experience in themselves?
• Should they be a catalyst for modelling new practice?
‘Networks of support?’
• Other than school the most common places /spaces for learning are:– Home (76%)– Online (67%)
• The people they’re most likely to learn with are:– Parents/carers (70%)– Friends (68%)
Is there a significant correlation between two findings above?
New technologies: use
• Technologies most used at schools were:– Whiteboards (46.6% reporting use once or
more per day)– Web searches (46%)
• Despite large investment in learning platforms, less than 8% reported using it daily
• 66% reported never using social networking
New technologies: its ‘effectiveness’
• Only 31% rated whiteboards as very effective in supporting their learning in school
• Desktop PCs (37%) and web searches (54%) were rated as better tools for supporting their learning
• Other findings reflect the degree to which technologies were reportedly used in school
Technologies used most outside of school
• Mobile devices (77%)• Web searches (62%)• Social networking (62%)
Most effective in supporting learning outside school:• Web searches 57%• ...and interestingly 41% (mobile devices) and
37% (social networks) felt these were very effective learning tools
‘Most students want to be involved’
• Majority of respondents expressed interest in being involved in the design of learning spaces (range of indoor and outdoor spaces and new practices, including curriculum design)
• However, were also interested in using new technologies as participation tools; e.g. Using the web, mobile technologies
• Do we need to consider participation tools, new media and approaches as participation tools?
‘Students hopes for the future of learning’
• 70% hoped that hoped that learning in the future would help them get the job right for them
• 65% - also implied that they wanted to better understand and take control of their learning needs by understanding their strengths and weaknesses
• A further 62% felt that in ten years would have choice over where and when to learn
Summary and further issues to explore• Desire to find out more about pupils views
• Pupils may not have enough opportunity or right mechanisms for participation - but have desire to be involved and take responsibility through meaningful learning opportunities
• Students may offer better insights into the future of learning and the value of learning tools – future proofing practice and designs
• Perhaps need to reconsider capital programmes as learning experience in and of themselves
www.beyondcurrenthorizons.org.uk
www.visionmapper.org.uk
More from Futurelab:Resources/Publications:Thinking Space (workshop resource) www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/publications-reports-articles/handbooks/Handbook1570What if..? Reimagining learning spaces (Opening Education report)'Live-lab Academy': a hypothetical case study (Opening Education report)Reimagining outdoor learning spaces (handbook)Transforming schools for the future (provocation papers)Personalisation and Digital Technologies: (Opening Education Report)Fountaineers: Exploring the impact of whole-school co-design projects (project and case study reports)Learner Voice handbook (handbook)Learning spaces workshop cards (workshop resource):http://www.visionmapper.org.uk/ideas/spaceworkshopcards.phpSchool redesign pack (workshop activities)http://www.visionmapper.org.uk/resource/schoolredesignpack.php Podcasts:Reimagining the design of outdoor learning and play spaces (January 2009)Reimagining teaching for the 21st century (October 2008)Building Schools for the Future (June 2008)
Web articles:A school for the 21st century - Kim Thomas (July 2009)All on board for an IKEA of learning spaces? - Merlin John (March 2009)The management of chaos: flexible learning in an inflexible system - Jim Fanning (February 2009)
