Friday, June 27, 2008
Can new school buildings really create a new ethos ?
The first BSF school has been open for nearly a year and results of a before and after study are revealing.
The Building Schools for the Future programme will re-build or re-new every state secondary school in England over a fifteen year period. Partnerships for Schools are the agency responsible for working with local authorities to deliver the £multi-billion programme.
The first school to be re-built in partnership with the local authority has been open for just under a year and the results of an in-depth study, commissioned by PfS and conducted by NFER, looking at the impact of the built environment on learner attitudes, aspirations and behaviour at the school has just been published.
The research comprised of 'before' and 'after' surveys asking students in years 7 and 8 for their views about their school environment and the learning opportunities open to them. The survey focused on gaining the learner perspective on how the new school buildings and vision had impacted on their experience of learning.
The survey found a strong association between the new school building environment and the students outlook on school and their future education. The proportion of pupils who felt safe at school most or all of the time rose by thirty percent from 57% to 87%, whilst the percentage of students who felt bullying was a big problem at school reduced by over half from 39% to 16%.
This is clear evidence that the environment in which learning takes place impacts on the enjoyment and success of the learning which takes place within it. The pupils planning to stay on in the sixth form rose from 64% to 77% after the new buildings and environment opened. The percentage of pupils who said they were proud of their school rose from 43% to 77%.
As well as the 200 pupils surveyed, their eight form teachers were also asked about the impact of the new school buildings and environment on teaching and learning with a large majority reporting feeling more motivated and enjoying teaching more in the new school.
The conclusion from this important first study of the impact of the BSF programme is that the environment in which learning takes place significantly impacts (in most questions the change was about 30%) on both the enjoyment and success of the learning which takes place within it. Visible investment in learning for young people raises their expectations of themselves and their aspirations for the future.
So can new buildings and environment really change the ethos of a school ?If this first study of the impact of a BSF re-build is indicative of the programme then it seems we can answer the question with a more than tentative yes.
Click here to play a film of learners at Bristol Brunel Academy talking about the impact of their new school buildings and environment.
The full report is available here to download.