Download
1 / 31
310 likes | 479 Views
2 nd Annual Microsoft Building Schools of the Future Conference 2007. Damian Allen Executive Director of Children’s Services Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council. Key Facts. Knowsley BSF. 11 Secondary schools replaced by 7 Learning Centres £150m PFI
E N D
2nd Annual Microsoft Building Schools of the Future Conference 2007 Damian Allen Executive Director of Children’s Services Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
Key Facts. Knowsley BSF • 11 Secondary schools replaced by 7 Learning Centres £150m PFI • Only local authority to replace all existing schools in a single investment wave • Closed all existing schools • Opportunity to review Governance, Leadership, Curriculum, Teaching and Learning
AN OUTDATED SYSTEM ‘Today’s high schools were conceived at the beginning of the 20th century to prepare students to work in an industrial economy that looked very different from the economy we have today’ Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. ‘High Schools for the new Millennium’
“..institutions out of sync with each other are caught in a clash of speeds between the old system and the new. Standardised education is among the slowest institutions to adapt. If you were monitoring the speed of cars going by you would clock the car of business, which changes rapidly under competitive pressure, at 100mph. But the car of education which is supposedly preparing the young for the future, is only going at 10 mph. You cannot have a successful economy with that degree of desynchronisation’ Alvin Toffler. World famous author and advisor to successive US and other administrations . Speaking to the FT August 2006
Employability Engagement Personalisation Connectivity Authenticity Technological Enhancement Lifelong Learning Facilitation Accountability Equity Accessibility Investment Added Ideas Choice/market Safety and security Flexibility Lower pupil/teacher ratio Well-rounded education Co-leadership Partnerships Co-location Ecological sustainability Efficiency Emerging Ideas Reshaping Education: ‘Want It All’
The current approach assumes that the school model is fine but needs ‘improving’. International social and economic evidence suggests the current model has fundamental flaws.
Challenge to the Local Authority Ensure that the investment you make today is fit for purpose in 25 years Risk Learning changes rapidly, buildings cannot respond and further investment is required.
Education Transformation defined ‘A system of education that can readily adapt to wider societal and economic change’
Pedagogy and Space ‘If the answer is rows of square rooms with rows of desks remind me again what the question is’
Traditional Classroom • The classroom is the most visible symbol of an educational philosophy. • It is a philosophy that starts with the assumption that a predetermined number of students will all learn the same thing at the same time from the same person in the same way in the same place for several hours each day.
All Defensible Space programs have a common purpose: They restructure the physical layout of communities to allow residents to control the areas around their homes. • This includes the streets and grounds outside their buildings and the lobbies and corridors within them. • It depends on resident involvement to reduce crime and remove the presence of criminals. It has the ability to bring people of different incomes and race together in a mutually beneficial union. For low-income people, Defensible Space can provide an introduction to the benefits of main-stream life and an opportunity to see how their own actions can better the world around them and lead to upward mobility.
Views of Young People Respect for all, treat us like VIPs ; Exciting, inclusive, welcoming, open, light, safe, well maintained and secure places to work, learn, socialise and play in. Multifunctional open spaces; Comfortablefurniture; Mobile ICT; world class’ sports and arts facilities ; community and pupil art to be placed within buildings ;Comfortable, tranquil, uplifting, colourful and warm; Different external spaces , social to learning sport and arts; sustainable technologies such as solar power, recycling points, water conservation and land drainage solutions; Natural ventilation. Outdoor teaching spaces, individual lockable bike sheds, water features to create calm, Supervised, light, open, clean, modern shopping centre type toilets; Vandalism is a product of boredom ; Art galleries, balconies, cyber cafes and information points. A school ‘wardrobe’ not a uniform; facilities to be used for both curriculum and community use, open access for all, including different cultural and religious groups.
Challenges • Managing local change while complying with national prescription • Moving from the old to the new – hearts and minds • National model/local context – clear tensions • No funding for transformation
Challenges • Change as a constant feature • Maintaining performance during change • New forms of accountability • Integration of private sector as strategic partners • Integration with wider neighbourhood regeneration • Criticality of innovation
Transformation • 5 Year ‘transition’ period of Change Management based on agile, enlightened partnership between public and private sectors • Test modelling on new teaching and learning approaches in new environments • Huge programme of CPD for teachers and school staff • New forms of Governance
Transformation • Significant rise in international links • Develop new frameworks for assessment • Trial new diplomas • Embed role of education in wider regeneration • Significant increase in enterprise based activity
“Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work… Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty” (Daniel Burnham, explaining the Chicago Urban Plan, 1909)
