26 Mar 2006 - Derbyshire builds a vision for schools of the future
Derbyshire builds a vision for schools of the future
Some of the country’s educational leaders came together with Derbyshire’s teachers, school leaders and policy makers on Monday (20th March) to thrash out what schools might look like in the future.
Teaching science through computer games, holding maths classes in nightclubs and making schools the hub of the community were all mooted as the way ahead for education at the Schools for the Future conference.
The day-long conference was organised by Junction Arts, for Bolsover Local Strategic Partnership and Derbyshire County Council.
More than 100 professionals attended the conference, at the Renaissance Hotel just off junction 28 of the M1, which aimed to explore how the Government’s £40bn Building Schools for the Future programme will help to change the nation’s schooling for good.
Pupils from Bolsover School, Frederick Gent School, Tibshelf Community School, Heritage School and Stubbin Wood School also took part in the event, creating art and interviewing delegates about learning throughout the day.
Under the capital build programme, buildings on every school campus in the country will be rebuilt, renovated or remodelled over the next 12 years.
Russell Andrews, assistant education director for Partnership for Schools, said that the programme is an opportunity to improve the quality of school buildings as well as an opportunity to adapt schooling to the digital age and the needs of a 21st century economy.
He said: "We don’t just want to see new buildings in which teachers are replicating old bad habits. We want to use the programme to build on what we do well and raise the education prospects for young people and adults."
The Schools for the Future programme is being rolled out in ten phases, with the next phase involving three secondary schools in north Derbyshire – Brimington, Staveley and Bolsover. Another (number in here) Derbyshire schools will be affected over the next few years.
Treating every child’s learning needs uniquely, embedding schools into the wider community and adapting to the digital age are at the top of the agenda for the programme.
Steve Molyneux, the director of The Learning Lab, told delegates: "Within five years, most children will be IT literate on entering primary school so we need to be teaching them in a way that they learn.
"These children are digital natives. They have grown up with technology. Neuroplasticity has defined them to parallel process and multitask. They prefer graphics to text, random access to physical contact, they thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards and they prefer games to serious work."
He said that instead of creating online text books, schools needed to use technology to innovate in the classroom and come up with teaching tools that digital age kids will interact with.
Jeremy Brown, who also spoke, has been working with Deansfield School in Wolverhampton for the last three years to develop partnerships between schools, businesses and the wider community that have become a key component of the school curriculum.
The partnerships have led to teaching modern foreign languages at a TV station in Barcelona, teaching design through work with a housing developer, teaching geography and citizenship through regeneration work led by the city council and teaching cross curriculum in a nightclub.
Jeremy Brown said: "The partnerships are not a barrier to teaching or another task that teachers have to undertake but they are a catalyst for improvement, simply because the experiences engage pupils in a much more vibrant way which inspires learning."
Speakers also called for schools to become bright, airy, vibrant, colourful and flexible spaces of high quality with architects, local authorities and school leaders giving real thought to how the spaces will be used.
Architect Derek Latham, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment representative for the East Midlands said: "Getting the design right will help to improve the performance of schools.
"The external impact will create a favourable impression and demand pride and respect while good circulation space and landscaped outdoor areas will create a strong sense of place, school identity and will civilise the growing experience."
Maggie Braley, assistant director of Junction Arts said that the conference had given a vital grounding in the School for the Future programme and would be invaluable for getting the most out of the funding that will be on offer to Derbyshire’s schools.
"The capital works programme is imminent in the Bolsover District and will affect everyone. There is great potential ahead of us and we need to make sure we make the most of what is on offer."