Peter Humphreys's blog

Futurelab Research Discussion Day at RIBA - Learning Spaces

Learning Spaces was one of three themes covered during discussion day. The presentations and outcomes will be available shortly. I'll start with a short summary and then follow up with posts about issues that arose or particularly interest me.

Tim Rudd (Senior Researcher in Futurelab's learning team) kicked off the Learning Spaces sessions by looking at the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. He raised a number of issues detailing limiting contexts and practical constraints under three headings:

  1. Problems and challenges.
  2. Pre-engagement and visioning.
  3. Co-design and stakeholder participation.

Tim and Tash Lee have already stirred this pot in their posts ‘Who should be responsible for Building Schools for the Future?’ and ‘Building schools right now, very quickly, without thinking about the future too much.’

Tim discussed:

  • Lack of alignment with current policy contexts, particularly personalisation.
  • Lack of wider public debate about the 'big questions' - the nature of education etc.
  • Re-designing learning spaces needs to support community regeneration.
  • The need for digital tools to help people think differently.
  • Absence of transformational visioning and a central repository / resource of ideas, alternative models of education and perspectives.
  • BSF timescales discouraging upfront visioning.
  • The barriers of institutional logic and a risk averse society.
  • The need for pedagogically informed design.
  • Weak co-design and stakeholder participation.
  • The importance of the design process as experimentation - and the need for adequate time to do this.
  • Future learning possibilities.

Questions and comments from the floor included: the implications of the raising of the learning age; why virtual learning spaces were not mentioned and the potential of the early years practice to inform curriculum / pedagogy and design in schools.

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