Threeways School Bath, A3 Architects: Landscape and integration were considered at the outset and remained important in creating a successful and sustainable project.

In 2007, Teacher Support Network and the British Council for School Environments (BCSE) conducted a joint survey of 530 teachers on school buildings.

• Just 12% said that their building provided an effective learning environment.
• A resounding 87% believed that school environments influence pupil behaviour.
• 60% said that their school didn’t have an adjustable environment to support curriculum delivery.

Kingsmead School

The survey clearly demonstrated that poor facilities can have a damaging impact on the performance and wellbeing of pupils and school staff. Poor acoustics can hamper communication and affect teachers’ confidence, for example, whilst poor temperature control can affect concentration, damaging teaching and learning alike.

Investment in school buildings has increased significantly in recent years. School annual capital spending is already above £6 billion and is set to rise to over £8 billion by 2010-11, but it is vital that every penny is spent wisely.

In June 2008, Teacher Support Network and BCSE hosted a roundtable meeting with key stakeholders involved in the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. The attendees - including architects, teaching unions and the DCSF – identified a number of problems that need to be addressed.

Problems on the supply side - architects and sources of support

David Trood. Hellerup, Copenhagen

BSF architects said that the demands during the procurement process were too great and that they felt rushed into producing less ambitious, poorer-quality designs without adequate consultation with schools. One said that he felt “bruised by the process” and that at one point he even had to design seven schools in just 14 weeks.

The architects also said that they had found that some teachers’ ideas lacked vision; focusing on how to improve their existing building rather than imagining the ideal. Both architects and teachers found it difficult to envisage and plan for new ways of teaching and learning. One contributor said: “unless you get quality engagement, you’ll never get a quality end product.”

David Trood, Hellerup, Copenhagen

Architects also argued that BSF’s aims were potentially unrealistic, given the information and funds available. They said that it was impossible to design a learning environment that could accommodate the likely changes over a 25-year period, such as a heating system that could accommodate decades of climate change.

Lastly, it was also argued that schools were failing to coordinate their design with nearby facilities and use other sources of funding in order to make their new building as beneficial as possible to the school and surrounding area.

Problems on the client side - teachers, pupils and the wider community

David Trood, Hellerup, Copenhagen

Representatives from trade unions and other teaching groups pointed out that the everyday pressures on teachers are already immense. Teacher Support Network noted that an alarming number of teachers contact them for help with workload-related problems. Therefore, the wellbeing and effectiveness of teachers – particularly headteachers – would suffer without extra support to meet BSF’s demands. Any lack of engagement or enthusiasm from headteachers would also reduce opportunities for involvement by other staff and the wider school community.

Teachers were unlikely to offer a design vision for the school because they had little or no experience of similar projects and few opportunities to learn from the experiences of others.

Whitecross High School - Haverstock Associates

Despite the courses run to support them by the National College for School Leadership, teachers with or without experience felt that they still lacked the information needed to make the right long-term design decisions for their school. As a result, architects said that teachers invariably ask for ‘flexibility’ as an underlying design feature. This, combined with the general lack of quality consultation, meant that new buildings risk lacking personalisation, identity, purpose or an overall sense of community ownership and pride.

Attendees were concerned that the above factors would deter some schools with poor facilities from even choosing to participate in BSF.

How to help schools through better building investment

These problems must be alleviated so that BSF has the best chance to benefit teachers and pupils in need. We would like to see:

• Far greater interaction between architects and teachers throughout the process and action to ensure that architects are not overburdened. The procurement process must give greater consideration to the aggregate workload and costs of bidders. Further reduction of the sample schemes and more time for the design stage are options that should be considered.
• A named individual in each procurement process responsible for ensuring that teachers are fully engaged and supported from beginning to end. To allow this, teachers should also be given support to free up time for active involvement in the process.

These recommendations could play a key role in ensuring that the remaining stages of BSF are as successful as they need to be.

About Teacher Support Network

Teacher Support Network provide practical, emotional and financial support to teachers throughout the UK. Their team of qualified coaches, advisers and counsellors run a free confidential support service over the phone and online, which is available to any training, serving or retired teacher at any time, every day of the year. Previously known as the Teachers’ Benevolent Fund, they also provide financial support to teachers in need.

About BCSE

The British Council for School Environments is a membership organisation made up of schools, local authorities, construction companies, architects and all those involved in and concerned about the design of excellent learning environments.

Larmenier & Sacred Heart Primary School, Studio E Architects

This new organisation is a forum for the exchange of good practice, research, dialogue and advocacy, supporting organisations from across the private and public sectors to understand each other’s needs. The members range from global leaders in construction and design to primary and secondary schools.

If you would like further information on the material in this document please contact:

Kevin Armstrong
Policy & External Relations Officer
Teacher Support Network
020 7554 5235

Beth Gladstone
Head of External Relations
British Council for School Environments
020 7785 6286

Attached file(s):
• BCSE-report.pdf