Standard school designs or bespoke solutions – Is there a third way?

Ian Wilson suggests a design solution which provides all the benefits of repetition and standardisation but where each school can respond differently to prescribed programmes and accommodate their own site constraints.

The Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme ambitiously set out in 2003 to ’ transform education’ through the replacement of every secondary school in the country by 2020 with learning environments which reflected the new ways of teaching.

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      string(399) "... Structures and culture can get in the way of partnership working.University organizational arrangements in particular can prove a barrier to partnering.Cultural differences in school-university partnerships can pose significant barriers to effective partnering.3. Creating a bespoke partnership space, based on trust and mutuality, matters. Partnerships have their ..."
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      string(5735) "activity.School-University Partnerships can be sites of both struggle and enjoyment.School-University partnership working has raised both considerable expectations and disappointment.Effective collaboration requires breaking out of traditional roles and relationships.Successful partnering often requires pragmatism and incremental change.2. Developing the capacity to work with different organisational structures and cultures matters. Each school-university partnership features different formal organisational arrangements and can thrive or falter depending upon the stability of partnership structures and culture.Structures and culture can get in the way of partnership working.University organizational arrangements in particular can prove a barrier to partnering.Cultural differences in school-university partnerships can pose significant barriers to effective partnering.3. Creating a bespoke partnership space, based on trust and mutuality, matters. Partnerships have their own dynamics based on building trusting relationships and the development of mutual respect. Successful partnerships involve mutuality and symbiotic relationships.Successful partnerships are built upon mutual trust.Partnerships are a third space distinct from the culture of the partnering organisations.  Partnership involves uncertainty and risk.Mutuality can be achieved through joint working and joint development.Partnerships can have a collaborative advantage or dividend.4. Leadership matters. The challenge for school-university partnerships is to build capacity, commitment, and leadership to ensure continuity and sustained impact over time.Leadership is vital in ensuring coherence and success in such vibrant and volatile partnership environments.In successful partnership there is leadership vision combined with distributed leadership.Leadership across organisational boundaries makes an important contribution.5. Conditions matter. There can be conflict of interest in partnerships.  Successful partnerships draw upon shared values, mutual commitment and a wide range of expertise and material resources.There are key conditions for successful partnership working:Material resourcesPartnership working has its costs and requires commitment.Funding is a crucial contributor to partnership success, but partnerships also need to develop strategies to persist in austere times.Strategic fitness and relevancePartnerships work well when there is joined-up coherence and strategic fit.Localism is an important feature of partnership working.Successful partnerships are often design led and focussed on local problem solving.Collaborative enquiry enables effective partnership working.Successful partnerships have a wider community dimension.Ownership, power and controlPower and control issues are the most persistent features of school-university partnership dynamics.Policy developments have aimed to move control towards schools.School driven partnerships can raise other concerns.There is a need for all voices to be heard.Effective outcomes are generated through ownership by the partnership.Monitoring and evaluationSuccessful partnering requires more attention to monitoring and evaluation.6. Involving the wider community to improve the benefits of widening participation and increase STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) participation matters.Widening participation is a persisting problem.Improving widening participation requires reciprocal action and partnering with the wider community.Increasing STEM participation and number of STEM graduates involves early intervention.  A concluding reflection: More for less … or costly indulgence? “The challenge for education systems around the world, regardless of their current situations, can be expressed this way: Bringing more students than ever before to higher levels of achievement than ever before, on a broader range of skills and attributes than ever before, with less inequity in outcomes than ever before” (Levin, 2012).Faced with this daunting imperative Governments across the world have turned increasingly to partnership working and collaboration. Rather than seek to impose central solutions, the growing emphasis has been on looking to educational organisations themselves to mine their own experience, expertise and local knowledge to bring about the system-wide improvement needed.  Collaborative approaches like school university partnerships have been so alluring because they are seen as being cost effective, particularly in these austere cash-strapped times:“Partnerships, collaborations and networks are popular with policy makers as they can be a means of delivering more with less by making better use of existing resources and adding value by bringing together complementary services; they can also foster innovation and synergy and be emancipatory in the formation of new relationships and systems of working” (Baumfield and Butterworth, 2007).Nevertheless, as this article has demonstrated, there are some significant cautionary notes to sound. Prominent among these is the danger of such partnerships being well-meaning but ill-focussed and poorly-coordinated; costly but lacking in bite; time consuming but unproductive.  Overall there are some crucial and indeed fundamental messages to be taken on board if the potential of school-university partnerships are to be realised. First is the understanding that building and sustaining productive partnerships is very difficult. Therefore they require commitment which is regularly rededicated, a purpose which is"
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Professional Development

School-university partnerships – fulfilling the potential

19 Nov 2018

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      string(5627) "Is it that there’s something about the sense of audience: something about learners being on show that makes them work so well? Or is it that, now information technology is no longer in its infancy, that the novelty (so-to-speak) has worn off and we want to revert to the visceral, instinctive action of picking up a pen and making a physical mark on a surface? Whatever, it seems that dry-wipe surfaces are back, they’re here to stay and they now can be much much more sophisticated than the hand-held boards learners simultaneously held up to show the teacher their answer. “We know that when we ask learners to do presentation work, they do their best work” commented Juliette Heppell at London’s BETT in January, “so why wouldn’t we want all work to be like that?”.  And if you think once students walk out of the learning space the work is lost – wiped off and gone for ever – then think again. With the camera on a mobile phone or tablet it’s recorded and can ultimately be uploaded to a digital portfolio. Dry wipe surfaces typically fall into two formats – vertical (which we’d traditionally recognise as wall-mounted but which are now equally available as freestanding, mobile panels), and now horizontal (tables) too. There’s something about the physical space the learner takes up with vertical surfaces that puts a single person ‘in charge’ but horizontal surfaces absolutely change that dynamic: when you’re gathered around a table, a much more collaborative approach is evident, one where everyone participates on an equal footing.But whilst it’s relatively easy to create an impromptu dry-wipe surface (pretty well any gloss surface will, to some extents, work) what is it about surfaces that make the best dry-wipe – ones that will remain stain-free for years – and which should you avoid at all costs? IKEA’s Lack gloss white coffee tables for example at, depending on where you live, kr59, US$14, A$20 or £8 (well it had to be cheapest in Sweden!) work perfectly well for a while, but in time they’d doubtless stain (although at that cost, arguably you could replace them). Nobody would claim that they’re designed, manufactured or advertised as dry-wipe, (it’s no more than a quirk of what was selected as an aesthetic treatment) and are manufactured using a gloss melamine foil – a material that just isn’t the most durable for a horizontal worksurface. In a learning space, they’ll inevitably have more than a coffee cup put on them, so it’s therefore unlikely they won’t, over time, get at least a little scuffed and scratched. For what they were originally designed for, this isn’t an issue – it’s simple aging. But when you’re then writing on them, it would represent a real problem. What makes them, and many other gloss finishes stain (it’s frequently referred to as ghosting) is ink becoming trapped in the porosity of the surface. Even glass – one of the least porous of materials – will trap some ink in its surface (only much less so than a surface that is more so) to the extent it’s pretty well imperceptible to the naked eye. And it is this that makes glass, or alternatively vitreous enamel (the same chemical composition) when you judge them by performance alone, probably the best dry-wipe surfaces that are widely available. You’d like to think there were a series of formal standards for dry wipe surfaces to enable you to determine what’s good and what isn’t, but despite searching we could only find the 2010 European standard, EN 14434 and this we understand is being revised. But even with the best dry-wipe materials though, without an appropriate cleaning regime, the surface will deteriorate, and it has to be said that a piece of thick felt glued to a chunk of wood is, despite the popularity of the traditional board rubber to do the job, not the best way by far. Because over time the felt simply becomes impregnated with ink and it therefore becomes more of a case of redistribution than cleaning, with old ink being pushed around the surface, whilst it gets more and more ingrained into both the surface and the rubber. And whereas proprietary school supply catalogues boast that their liquid spray cleaners for dry wipe surfaces are ‘alcohol-free’ in truth, the ones with alcohol tend to give far superior results: the alcohol mixes with the ink and evaporates quickly out to the surface where it can be wiped away, preferably with something like a microfibre cloth (that should be regularly washed) or alternatively, although clearly not as environmentally friendly, with a disposable wet wipe. In all cases, what you’re trying to do is to remove the ink, and to keep whatever you’re cleaning it with, ink-free too.Whilst there are some great glass vertical surfaces commercially available, the trouble with using glass as a table surface in learning environments is, and forgive the pun, clear to see: it’s vulnerable when it suffers impact, and if this did happen, the result inevitably carries significant danger. 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ECO Friendly Design

Write Wipe Write Wipe

3 Oct 2018

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some of the interesting players who are making a difference in the classroom.
e-Learning Update issue 63/64"
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e-Learning Update issue 63/64"
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      string(5697) "Digital learning and technology use in the classroom are both ubiquitous but, like with all aspects of the high-tech market, online learning technology is constantly changing and it can be tough to stay on top of the available options. Current learning platforms in education primarily focus on VLE (Virtual Learning Environments) or LMS (Learning Management Systems) where teachers can post homework and communicate with parents and students and where students can communicate with each other for project work and engage with digital content associated with their learning. The technology helps create community and ease of communication between students, parents, teachers and school leadership. Additionally, there are educational platforms that focus on teaching approaches or that can support particular activities. There are countless resources for enhancing education and making learning more fun and effective. From apps to online interactive resources and teaching platforms, there are many solutions that can help teachers increasing student participation and engagement. In this article we have compiled a basic introductory collection of platforms that are useful and that teachers can implement without major financial or time commitments.Google Classroom classroom.google.comGoogle Classroom is a learning management system developed by Google for schools that aims to simplify creating, distributing and grading assignments in a paperless way. Its main focus is on streamlining the process of sharing files between teachers and students. It can be accessed through a free Google Apps for Education account. Google Classroom combines Google Drive for assignment creation and distribution, Google Docs, Sheets and Slides for writing, Gmail for communication, Google Calendar for scheduling, and Google search to help with school projects. Students can be invited to classes through the institution’s database, through a private code or can be automatically imported from a school domain. Each class creates a separate folder in the respective user’s Drive, where the student can submit work to be a graded by a teacher. Mobile apps, available for iOS and Android devices, let users take photos and attach them to assignments, share files from other apps, and access information offline. Teachers can monitor the progress for each student, and after grading work, teachers can return it with comments.The main appeal of Google Classroom is that it is simple and it uses technology that is already being used by many teachers and students. It works on any device or operating system and can be easily integrated with many other learning platforms, including Edmodo and Schoology.Edmodo www.edmodo.comEdmodo’s teaching platform offers communication, collaboration and coaching for schools and teachers. The Edmodo network enables teachers to share content, distribute quizzes, post assignments and manage communication with students, colleagues and parents. It is both a Learning Management System and a Social Media network. Edmodo is specifically designed for K-12 education and its features are applicable for traditional classes as well as blended learning initiatives. It is teacher-centric in its design and philosophy and it has applicability both within and outside of the classroom. It includes an extensive electronic knowledge base and low-stakes micro assessments that are designed to support the Common Core standards.Edmodo is tightly integrated with Google Apps for Education and Microsoft OneNote and Office, and it quickly allows teachers to create groups, assign homework, schedule quizzes, manage progress, and so on. It also means not having to remember multiple passwords or click out of Edmodo to access Google Drive or to collaborate using Google Docs. Whether it is Microsoft or Google, both are supported. It also integrates with popular school information systems, including Microsoft SDS, Classlink, Clever and OneRoster.Educational content (open education resources or paid) can be shared from all over the web using Edmodo Spotlight to discover free and premium tools, apps and games, or to create collections of favourite resources. Users can even upload, share, or sell original educational content. Use of Edmodo is free but there are training and premium options that can be added for a fee.Schoology www.schoology.comA peer of Edmodo, Schoology presents itself as an integrated platform that is “all you need for teaching and learning in one platform”. With its tools, teachers can create engaging content, design lessons and assess students. Like many platforms, Schoology has integration with Google and Microsoft. In addition to single sign-on (SSO), students and teachers can access Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive resources without leaving Schoology, and can use Google and OneDrive resources as templates. Instructors can use the new Google and Microsoft Assignment apps to assign and provide feedback on Docs, Spreadsheets, Slideshows, and Drawings without leaving Schoology. It also has a wide range of third-party app integration with common educational apps. In addition to the strictly educational aspects of the platform, it also has many motivational and community building features. The gamification resources provide encouragement and incentive for students and the instant messaging is a great way to encourage use of social media within a safe and contained environment.  Kahoot! http://kahoot.comKahoot! is a game-based learning platform, used as educational technology in"
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Adaptive Technology

Creating a High-Tech Classroom through Learning Platforms

22 May 2018

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      string(328) "... Latin America.In many emerging economies, the situation is at a crisis point. For example, Liberia is home to the highest proportion of out-of-school children with nearly two-thirds of primary-aged children not attending school. The second highest is South Sudan, where 59 per cent of children ..."
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      string(5773) "Worldwide, 100 million children did not complete primary education in 2015. An additional 58 million children of primary school age received no schooling at all (2015 EFA Global Monitoring Report). Most of these children are concentrated in a few areas: Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian sub-continent, the Philippines and Latin America.In many emerging economies, the situation is at a crisis point. For example, Liberia is home to the highest proportion of out-of-school children with nearly two-thirds of primary-aged children not attending school. The second highest is South Sudan, where 59 per cent of children are missing out on their right to a primary education, and 1 in 3 schools is closed due to conflict. Of those children lucky enough to attend school, many are being hampered by underperforming school systems. While the determinants of an “underperforming school” vary from country to country, student achievement outcomes do not: Globally, approximately 1 in 3 primary school-age children are not learning the basics in reading and mathematics, sometimes known as foundation skills. As many as 250 million children either leave the fourth grade without basic skills in reading, writing and math, or they don’t even make it to grade 4 at all. Fully 130 million of these children are in school and not learning. Under present trends, by 2030, only 1 out of 10 young people in low-income countries will be on track to gain basic secondary-level skills. The cost of 250 million children not learning the basics is profound: the equivalent to a loss of USD 129 billion per year.We are not just talking about student failure—we are also talking about the failure of the schools they have attended. These schools typically are characterized by the poor student outcomes described previously; by unworkable teacher/student ratios and high numbers of unqualified teachers; and by poor leadership, professional development and school cultures.School and student failure in many countries is exacerbated by student dropout rates. Two principal contributing factors to student dropout are poor teaching and irrelevant curricula. Worldwide, 263 million children and youth are out of school–roughly the equivalent of the entire populations of Mexico and Russia combined. The magnitude of this failure is evident in the subsequent drain on the economy. In the USA alone, each year’s class of dropouts will cost the country over USD  200 billion in lost earnings and unrealized tax revenue during their lifetimes.The situation is untenable. Finding solutions—and finding them now—has become a global imperative.High-quality education drives economic growthResearch has shown that quality education is a significant driver of economic growth. PISA measures student assessment in reading, science and mathematics, and provides an increasingly well-tested method of comparing countries’ success in providing foundation skills in these key curriculum areas. Study of PISA scores over time has shown that increases in scores are a strong predictor of economic growth.Andreas Schleicher, who heads the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills, has said: “If the industrial world boosted the average PISA scores of their 15-year-olds by 25 points … there could be an aggregate GDP gain of more than 100 trillion USD over the lifetime of these students.”Put another way, an increase of one standard deviation in PISA scores is linked to a 2% average additional GDP growth. This is particularly true in areas like Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong, all of which have displayed a strong commitment to raising student achievement levels over time. The effect of bringing all the world’s students to a minimum of 400 points on the PISA scale would yield massive GDP gains around the globe. The numbers speak plainly: the relationship between effective investment in education and economic growth is a cyclical, win-win loop.Although worldwide requirements for school learning have changed over time, school systems persistently have failed to recognize the need to review and, in some cases, completely overhaul the curriculum. This resistance to periodic review has led to slackening rigor in these education systems. The problem is not just a gap—we are talking about hard deficiencies in skills acquisition. Young people entering the workforce now need a range of both technical and soft skills to lead successful lives and to contribute to the labor market. It is the soft skills that are languishing at a critical low point: higher order functioning skills such as the “4 Cs” (creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration); intrapersonal skills such as adaptability, resilience, integrity and ethics; and what the Center for Curriculum Design has called “meta-layer” skills that foster habits of mind, behaviors, interdisciplinary working, and student-generated solutions that create new learning.Even more alarming is the fact that so many students are failing to master even the most basic foundation skills. This failure translates into social and political inactivity and low levels of human capital. Investing in human capital is the most effective way of promoting economic growth, and getting this investment right requires an urgent, worldwide transformational education strategy.When countries focus on cost-effective resource allocation  Global spending on education continues to rise, from $1.2 trillion in 2000 to $2.5 trillion in 2012. In terms of percent GDP, significant dollars are spent on education,"
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Inclusion

Transforming Education: Brightening the Futures of All Children

20 Jun 2017