Latest news with #openplanclassrooms
RNZ News
21-07-2025
- General
- RNZ News
The end of open-plan classrooms: how school design reflects changing ideas in education
By Leon Benade, Alastair Wells and Chris Bradbeer of An example of an open-plan classroom. (File photo) Photo: RNZ The end of open-plan classrooms in New Zealand, recently announced by Education Minister Erica Stanford , marks yet another swing of the pendulum in school design. Depending on who you ask, these classrooms were an opportunity to foster collaboration and flexibility or an exercise in organised chaos. So-called "modern learning environments" - characterised by flexible layouts, fewer walls and sometimes multiple classes and teachers in one space - were vigorously pushed by the National government in 2011. The stated goal was to promote flexibility in the way students were taught, encourage collaboration and to accommodate new technology in classrooms. But a 2024 ministerial inquiry into school property found complex procurement, design and authorisation processes associated with bespoke designs caused delays, budget overruns and unrealised expectations in many school communities. Among the solutions offered by the inquiry was the development of simple but functional schools based on cookie-cutter designs constructed off-site. This recommendation was welcomed by the current National-led government. The modern, bespoke designs of the past two decades represented a response to technological developments, such as the introduction of digital devices, that changed how students learned. This resulted in the steady replacement of traditional school designs from the industrial age with spaces designed for flexibility. Those industrial age schools were themselves products of changes in the second half of the 20th century. Since the first school opened in 1843, school architecture in New Zealand had evolved significantly. Early schools featured cramped six-metre by four-metre classrooms which could accommodate more than 30 students. By the 1920s, the "Taranaki" and "Canterbury" models included a more generous minimum classroom size of eight metres by seven metres. There was a greater emphasis on light and ventilation. Their larger spaces also recognised changes in teaching styles that encouraged more active and participatory learning. By the 1950s, classroom size had grown to ten metres by seven metres. The "Nelson" and "S68" blocks of the 1950s and 1960s provided small self-contained blocks of classrooms that reduced student movement and corridor noise. Changes to New Zealand school buildings also reflected global trends. Open-plan schools emerged in North America after 1960. At the same time, there were signs English schools would replace their traditional Victorian-style buildings with classrooms considered more child-centred. The goal was to achieve flexible, connected designs to support evolving education philosophies. England's 1966 Plowden Report on primary education significantly aided this evolution towards progressive styles of teaching and learning, leading to the creation of schools that featured flexibility, connectivity and external-internal flow. These schools were the forerunners of "innovative learning environments" and were considered cutting-edge at the time. In 2004, the ambitious Building Schools for the Future programme was launched in the United Kingdom. It was designed to replace outdated school facilities considered unfit for preparing students for the 21st century. But in 2011, the James Review of Education Capital highlighted a number of issues with the way schools were being built, putting an end to the infrastructure programme. That report, like the 2024 New Zealand report, suggested replacing government investment in bespoke school infrastructure with a focus on standardised designs. In New Zealand, "modern learning environments" became part of education policy with the Ministry of Education's School Property Strategy 2011-2021, published in 2011. But the pendulum started to swing back after Labour came to power in 2017. Departing from the 2011 strategy, the language of "modern learning environments", "innovative learning environments" and "flexible learning spaces" largely disappeared. It was replaced in policy documents with "quality learning environments". This shift emphasised physical characteristics such as heating, lighting and acoustics, rather than innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Since coming to power, the current National-led coalition has focused on embedding a standardised approach to foundational skills in reading, writing, maths and science. Education Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii While not directly scapegoating open-plan designs for educational underachievement, Erica Stanford said the reforms would ensure learning spaces were "designed to improve student outcomes". But as New Zealand moves back to standardised designs, it is worth considering why modern learning environments were introduced in the first place - the flexibility for new technology and space for collaboration - and what students may lose by a swing back towards the separate classrooms of the past. This story was originally published on The Conversation.
RNZ News
16-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Government shuts the door on open-plan classrooms
Education Minister Erica Stanford announced the move at Wellington's Newlands Intermediate School today. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii The government has called a halt to building open-plan classrooms, even though most teachers who actually use the structures believe their students benefit from them. The buildings - known variously as modern, flexible, or innovative learning environments - have attracted consistent criticism, with some schools spending their own funds remodelling the rooms to create separate classrooms. But surveys by the Council for Educational Research showed most teachers who worked in the structures liked them and believed their students benefited from learning in that kind of environment. At Wellington's Newlands Intermediate School today, Education Minister Erica Stanford said she had been thinking about the issue for a long time. "This government is calling time on open-plan classrooms. We will no longer be building those barn-yard-style open classrooms without any doors that separate classrooms," she said. Stanford said successive governments had been flip-flopping between open plan and single-cell classrooms for years. She said the big open spaces were too noisy and distracting for many children, and they would learn better in individual classrooms. "My message to parents is that your children will be learning in single-cell classrooms that are modular so there will be open-and-close sliding doors that will allow for those classrooms to become bigger for when events require," she said. "But when they are learning using explicit teaching, the new curriculum, the new maths books they will be learning in single-cell classrooms." Newlands Intermediate School principal Chris Els said modern learning environments had their place - but they had drawbacks too. "For neuro-diverse kids, kids that are struggling - really hard. Then you have your kids who know how to hide within the nooks and crannies of open learning spaces, so a lot relied on teachers to know their learner but you'd have the same in a single-cell. Personal preference, I like the idea of a flexible, open-up-close-when-you-can. It gives options," he said. Stanford visited the school to announced that it would get 10 new classrooms. Els said he did not know how often his teachers might want to open the glass doors the minister mentioned and turn their single-cell classrooms into a big open room. "You basically are trying to create an environment that best suits both student and teacher. So if it needs to open and they can work together, so be it," he said. "It depends on what the curriculum area is. If it needs quiet, the door gets closed and if that's the case those kids work within the single-cell." While Stanford said the overwhelming feedback from schools was that they did not like open plan rooms, NZ Council for Educational Research (NZCER) surveys showed the opposite. The council's 2019 survey of primary teachers found most of those who worked in modern learning environments enjoyed it and thought their teaching had improved, though most agreed some children find the rooms overwhelming. "Sixty-two percent of those who taught in an innovative learning environment enjoyed teaching in such an environment, and 55 percent thought their teaching had changed for the better," the survey report said. "Just over half thought they could cater for all students, and 45 percent thought that students were more engaged in the flexible learning environment than traditional classrooms, and 30 percent were neutral about this. But 78 percent of the teachers thought that some students find innovative learning environments overwhelming." The council's 2022 survey of secondary teachers found 49 percent enjoyed their innovative learning environment, 27 percent were neutral, and 24 percent did not enjoy it. Similar proportions agreed that their students enjoyed learning in the space and that it allowed them to teach in ways that benefited their students' learning. But they were less likely to agree that their space was well-designed for teaching and learning with 40 percent agreeing, 30 percent neutral and 30 percent disagreeing. Two-thirds percent agreed that some students found learning in an innovative learning environment overwhelming and 27 percent were neutral. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
16-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Government puts an end to open-plan classrooms
education politics 22 minutes ago The government has drawn a line under one of education's most contentious issues - today it announced a halt to building what everyone except for teachers call open-plan classrooms. Modern learning environments, flexible learning environments, and innovative learning environments, whatever name you give them, their day is done. The government says evidence backs the move, though surveys show most teachers who work in the buildings like them. Education correspondent John Gerritsen reports.
RNZ News
16-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Government announces an end to open plan classrooms
The Government has announced an end to open plan classrooms. The initial concept began in 2011 under National's then Education Minister Hekia Parata. For a period, every new classroom had to be built open-plan, so up to 100 students could leaern in one space with 3 teachers collaboratively. Many schools still have them, but Education Minister Erica Stanford says the barn-like designs "aren't meeting the needs of students". Instead there will be a range of designs schools can choose from that are flexible, but not open plan. Principal of Albany Senior High School and the President of the Auckland Secondary Schools Principals Association Claire Amos spoke to Melissa Chan-Green. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
04-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Shirley Boys High school brings back traditional single-cell rooms
Shirley Boys High Principal Tim Grocott is delighted with the new walls in the formerly open-plan classrooms. Photo: Rachel Graham A second Christchurch school has made the costly move to ditch its near-new open plan classrooms. Shirley Boys High school is spending $800,000 to transform its open plan classrooms, built in 2019, into single-cell rooms. When Shirley Boys High was rebuilt after being damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes the Ministry of Education was in the midst of a push for open plan classrooms, the Innovative Learning Environments. Shirley Boys High was one of a number of Christchurch schools being rebuilt or repaired which joined the movement. Six years after its brand new building opened, Shirley Boys High Principal Tim Grocott said it was obvious the open plan classrooms were not working for students or staff. "The level of distraction was just too high. There was too much movement going on. They can hear what is happening in the class next door - "oh that's sounds interesting over there, I wonder what they are doing". Particularly if something was being played on TV or anything like that. So that level of distraction was a negative factor." Grocott said the shared spaces meant that teachers had to do what they could to limit noise, whereas now they can teach in far more engaging ways. "To be a character, to be at the front and tell a story and have the boys laughing and all of those sorts of things that add to the enjoyment of learning - they couldn't do it. Because that would be distracting other classes around them." In 2024, Shirley Boys High also did a formal inquiry into how students and staff were finding the open-plan rooms, and Grocott said the widespread unhappiness that was found meant they needed to respond. It will cost the school $800k to make the change, and Grocott said the school was in the lucky position of being able to cover that from school reserves put aside by the board over the last 10 years. The first part of the changeover was completed in the last school holidays, and the final stage will be done in the next school holidays. The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive and instantaneous. "Hugely positive feedback. The staff on the first day were absolutely thrilled. One of our teachers was hugging the walls in her classroom because she was so thrilled to have walls. But the boys are just much happier," said Grocott. Grocott said his view is that open plan classrooms are a flawed concept that just did not work for his school. A year ago, Rangiora High School finished the process of changing an open plan building, built in 2018, to single-cell classes. Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney said the feedback has been amazing. "The results have been a huge shift in engagement, in attendance, in achievement. It is not what I was expecting. I was expecting a small shift, but its gone through the roof, its made a massive difference in everything in the school." Kearney said while the open plan classrooms didn't work for his school, they may work for others, and his key bit of advice was to review them, and make changes if needed. Minister of Education Erica Stanford said open plan classrooms do work well for some schools, but she said she knows many schools want to switch back to single-cell rooms. She said that decision is up to the schools. "It seems to be a fad that comes and goes, but I think that the evidence is really tending more and more these days towards to making sure there are spaces that are quiet, potentially modular for children to learn. Especially for children with additional learning needs." In a statement, the Ministry of Education's Head of Property, Sam Fowler said the Ministry was aware some schools have converted open-plan classrooms to single-cell classrooms, and that there were schools where such work is currently underway or planned for the future. The Ministry does not have figures on how many schools have or want to convert such spaces. Fowler said schools in New Zealand are self-governing through their boards, meaning they are responsible for decisions regarding their daily operations and teaching and learning programmes. This includes choices about learning space configurations, and whether classrooms are open-plan or single-cell. He said new and redeveloped school buildings were designed for flexibility, enabling schools to tailor spaces to their preferred approach, but the Ministry was also implementing a programme of increased standardisation to ensure new buildings provide consistent and adaptable solutions for schools. The president of the Post Primary Teachers Association, Chris Abercrombie said the merits or otherwise of open plan classrooms was a frequent topic for teachers. He said the open-plan rooms can have positives, but require training on how best to use it. "Apart from one or two exceptions, very little thought seems to be given to that professional development. How to use the space effectively, how to teach there, how to often team teach, how to work together in that manner is often missing in that space." Abercrombie said the clear push from the Ministry towards open plan classrooms has died off, but the PPTA would still like to see proper research into their impact. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
