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The much-vaunted Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project is projected to spend £2.2 billion per year on building and refurbishing secondary schools in England over the next 10-15 years. The idea is to create world class, flexible and adaptable teaching and learning environments compatible with the 21st century.

It's a bold scheme, and comes at an ideal time. Education has traditionally been seen as something that happens to learners, based on a post-World War II 'one-size-fits-all' strategy which aimed to provide a solid basic education for all. But the world is changing and, in the 21st century, people will increasingly need to be flexible, technology-savvy lifelong learners, with a very different skill-set from their forebears.

BSF is an ideal opportunity to create schools that acknowledge these new demands for education, and to draw on recent high-profile studies into the design of new learning environments which have shown how innovative building and classroom design impact on the effectiveness and experience of learners, teachers and the wider community of users. At the same time, new approaches to teaching and learning need to be incorporated into these designs, such as e-learning, e-assessment, remote and personalised learning, curricula designed around the development of life skills and student-initiated learning.

As it orientates itself to the future, school design will need to reflect and enable all of these emerging possibilities, and to rethink what we understand by 'the school' and 'the classroom'.

So does BSF go far enough? Catherine Burke, co-author of 'The School I'd Like: Children and Young People's Reflections on an Education for the 21st Century' (RoutledgeFalmer, 2003), thinks not. "I've talked to some contemporary architects and I don't think they are really building 'the school I'd like'," she says. "They need to be more prepared to challenge both time and space, rather than just rearranging traditional classrooms and buildings in a more modern way. To achieve this, we all need to listen more to children and hear their needs."

'The School I'd Like' came into being when Burke contacted The Guardian in 2001, to see if they would be interested in re-running a 1967 competition (originally in the Observer) which had asked secondary school children about their experiences and invited them to imagine their educational utopia. Many of the original participants mentioned physical discomfort, lack of respect and a feeling of being out of control, which was reflected in the buildings, classrooms, and in the way they were being taught. The children wanted to work more cooperatively, in circles rather than rows. They wanted to break down barriers and hierarchy, and for their voices to be heard.

The Guardian agreed, and this time the competition was extended to include primary school children as well. Over 15,000 entries were received. "We were amazed," Burke recalled. "Children are kept so permanently busy these days, so we thought that not many would find the time. But it really took hold of their imaginations."

The results were - sadly - astonishingly similar to those from the previous competition, indicating that little has changed in over 30 years. Quite apart from the inevitable Tardis-like wish-list of voice-activated pencils and field trips in rockets and giant submarines, lots of domes appeared in the children's designs. "Lines feel bad and ordered," said one entrant. "Circles feel cooperative."

The children wanted school to be safe and comfortable, built without physical and emotional walls and barriers, and for teachers to be more willing to listen and be flexible. But their ideas also extended into the philosophical. "Education should not close children's eyes to the wonder of learning," said one pupil. "It should feed our minds."

Relevance to adult life and adult ways of working was another concern, leading to questions about how the subjects themselves are taught. This, in turn, queries the traditional classroom, curriculum and exam set-up. As one participant asked, "Why is knowledge split into chunks? Life isn't."

Burke, herself an educational historian, was fascinated by the findings and thinks that they should be recognised by the BSF project - which hopefully they will be, as BSF features the findings from the competition in its communications, such as its website, www.bsf.gov.uk. Indeed, those involved in BSF are keen to point out that they are aware of innovative thinking going on elsewhere and are in no doubt about the significance of the project. Steve Moss, Education ICT Adviser for Partnerships for Schools, which is responsible for implementing BSF: "We have a key role in challenging local authorities as they develop the education visions which will underpin their school designs and also in helping the architects, construction industry and ICT suppliers to understand the transformations their designs must facilitate."

Burke agrees with the need for a wide scope: "Design, technology and the curriculum itself all have to be integrated if we are to even get close." She cites the example of Prestolee school in Bolton. The school was transformed during the 1920s-1950s by the head teacher, Edward Francis O'Neill, who challenged the very concept of the classroom. Flying in the face of tradition, he focused instead on "developing the innate characteristics of children", which he identified as trustfulness, truthfulness, helpfulness, discovery, activity, initiative, concentration and gregariousness. There were moveable 'science tables' to work on rather than fixed labs; a 'magic garden' of flowers, vegetables and water features; and the children were encouraged to cooperate in making things and to 'learn by doing'. "We can learn from the past as well as from the children of today," says Burke.

Just as at Prestolee, 'The School I'd Like' found that children want school to be a place they want to be in. Sarah Noyce, a primary school pupil, summed up why all entrants wished their dream school would come true. "So if I had a choice, I would still want to go to school," she said. As John Clifford, winner of the 1967 competition and a judge on this one, observed, "It all proves that children are not a problem to be corralled and curfewed, but an incredibly rich resource of wisdom and creative thinking that we should listen to.[1]

This is a concept with which Bruce Jilk, renowned school architect from Minnesota, could not agree more. "We need to start with learning behaviours," he said. "If we don't do that, designing hi-tech classrooms is about as much use as rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic." That's why he feels many new schemes, including the BSF, are often too narrowly focused. "We may well end up with a better environment; more light, cleaner air," he explained. "That's all good, but is not directly connected to enhancing learning in itself. The problem is, there are so many adult stakeholders - the Government, the tax payer, the expectations and presumptions of the voting public - and these all come before the needs of the child."

Jilk has been responsible for several challenging new concepts in education, including the Zoo School in Minneapolis. A state school of 400 students, it has an active partnership with Minnesota Zoo. The students are 'workers', and teachers take a far less central role. The students move around, undertaking activities in largely self-determining 'pods' of about ten to a group, with ten 'pods' to a 'house' - a large, flexible-use room. The 'houses' all face a hub, where central facilities such as the canteen and library are housed. Design came second to the students' academic programme and needs, which were themselves adapted from the traditional curriculum into innovative teaching practice.

In creating this environment, Jilk removed the very concept of the formal classroom. As one student, Kelly Carlin, said, "I'm not learning in a box of fluorescent lights any more. I'm learning in a classroom, but also by a pond, in a park, in the field. and it has a significant impact on the community."[2] With a focus on learning the factual, social and civic aspects of each subject at the same time, an integrated, community-oriented thinking is nurtured that can benefit the students greatly in their adult lives.

Jilk is rightfully proud of this project, not least because when he visits the school - which is frequently - the children often run out to thank him. "Most schools are like production lines," he said, "and if you put 30 kids in rows in front of a teacher, that will just be perpetuated. The key is to work together for change that will be meaningful to learners." And if you can do that, you banish boredom and apathy, and improved results and well-socialised citizens usually follow.

Whilst the concept of starting with learning behaviour and integrating design, technology and the curriculum is vital to Jilk and Burke, the physical classroom environment does make a difference too.

In the UK the Design Council, which is campaigning for improved learning environments, is working with St Margaret's High School in Liverpool to develop a prototype for a 360-degree classroom. The concept is that, instead of the teacher facing rows of disengaged students, he or she can circle them on a curved 'race-track' whilst the children work cooperatively in groups in the middle, sitting at 'Q-Pods' (special table and chair units on wheels). A multimedia projection centre is locked in the middle, and the white writing boards the groups work on can be fitted onto walls at the back so everyone can discuss the project together. They can also be used as screens for computer projections. "Potentially it eradicates the 'attention zone' - that small area in front of the teacher in a traditional classroom where 90% of his or her attention goes, ensuring everyone is engaged. And the Q-Pod chairs are far better for growing spines than cheap, wooden ones," said Toby Greany, campaign leader at the Design Council.

Designs like these, with the fluidity of movement they allow, will also be better placed to accommodate the increasing involvement of new technology in education. For example, Futurelab has developed a prototype learning technology called Space Mission: Ice Moon, in collaboration with the National Space Centre, which puts pupils into the roles of experts in an Emergency Response Team after a disaster in space. Working in teams, up to 30 pupils use video-conferencing, web chat and interactive materials to resolve the disaster, putting into practice all their skills as scientists, mathematicians, planetary geographers and communicators. This kind of project would be far harder to implement in a traditional classroom set-up.

"We hope projects like this will become part of the future of education," said Keri Facer, Director of Learning Research at Futurelab. "And it's vital that BSF understands that learners, supported by mobile and wireless technologies and new curriculum approaches, will expect more control, flexibility and diversity from their learning environments in the future."

Ultimately, for the BSF project to be a worthwhile investment in the future, the Government will need to practice the 'joined-up thinking' we hear so much about. It will need to link the elements of changing educational requirements, fast-moving technology, and exterior and interior design. It should also factor in the potential of more open and collaborative approaches to teaching, take on board different learning styles and options to offer genuine flexibility in its designs, and above all, put the needs of the learner first.

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