Vision first

• Further resources

Visioning: a case study illustrating Heads being supported in the school redesign process

Key challenges:

• Can we design spaces that would give learners more choice over what they learn and who they learn with and from?
• How are you consulting with pupils, families, staff and the wider community to identify priorities and need?
• What sort of education do we want in the future?

Overview:

Portsmouth recognised that limited time and resources may mean that Heads project manage school rebuilds and redesigns, rather than plan for the radically different - that is, remodel practice, pedagogy, and continuing professional development.

Given the uniqueness and complexity of each school, this remodelling process ought to be done from first principles. The LA therefore set up two-day Head workshops as a starting point, to challenge the vision before beginning the Building Schools for the Future programme.

In parallel to the workshops, the LA also commissioned two-day student workshops designed to encourage innovation and creativity, and to cover aspects of design and future technologies. The idea was that schools would choose a pupil champion to work with fellow students from across the authority and then within their own school. This would ensure that the schools had input from their students as stakeholders, and encourage the exchange of ideas between schools.

Approach:

Both two-day workshops involved a range of activities, including short videos on how new technology might change or be used differently, leading to discussions about their potential for influencing learning.

The adult sessions used the learning spaces cards to address priorities for the design brief; and they highlighted versatility of spaces. This is most useful with groups from same schools - and particularly relevant at the introduction stage to give the Heads a chance to examine aspects such as flexibility before formal planning starts.

Before the learning spaces cards exercise the students had been shown pictures of real places and had discussed what they liked and how it could be incorporated into their environment. They also had an opportunity to review the designs of others. The exercise highlighted the ideals held by the students - not all of them practical or affordable.

Finally, there was an asset mapping exercise in which the Heads chose one of the schools and looked at the spaces associated with it: the grounds, trails to school, as well as the building. They talked about how to embed, for example, art (perhaps through having a local artist on site), or sending students to workshops, or being sponsored by material suppliers. This conversation covered the both indoor and outdoor spaces, and how to introduce technologies like sensors, lighting and speakers.

Holding workshops with participants from all the schools in the redesign process enables a challenging of visions. As a consequence the participants:

• Are able to articulate and share their views.
• Have the opportunity to exchange ideas and reflect on other possible needs and approaches they had not yet identified within their own work.
• Are offered the opportunity to discuss others' research.

There was an expectation that as the future was unknown what was needed was to design for now but with flexibility - and consider implications for cost.

Key learning and recommendations:

• Start the process as early as possible to create a vision which can then influence the design.
• The person running the workshop has a clear understanding of what is required and be able to facilitate the sessions.
• For such workshops to be useful the local authorities need to ensure the Heads have enough time dedicated to BSF.
• Support sharing between the various organisations going through the process, not just within the organisation.
• Provide practical support for those responsible for the redesign.
• Use the Space workshop cards to determine priorities.
• The School redesign gallery would be a useful starting point for encouraging thinking around learning spaces.

Student workshop Space workshop cards