Schools refurbishment easy as GFC
[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 5, No. 7
12 October - 8 November 2009 ]
Behind the hype about “building an education revolution,” the Federal Government’s program of schools refurbishment is resonating well among education analysts – with a general consensus that if we must spend our way out of a financial crisis by buoying up the construction industry, we may as well invest in something we want and value. Creating better schools is an obvious choice. Katherine Smith and David Scott report
However the speed of implementation and strict criteria around access to the funding pool of the well-intentioned program may cause it to be viewed retrospectively as something of a missed opportunity, with little substantive improvement to the inequity that exists in the quality of schools across the sector.
Professor Stephen Lamb from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education considers the Building the Education Revolution (BER) program to be very important, and critically timed, but feels the sets of criteria applied will limit its potential.
On the plus side he says is that many schools – built rapidly post-war in response to a population boom and urban expansion – were not necessarily designed for long life and are now in need of attention.
Another positive is the BER’s targeting of large sums of money at primary schools, which historically have suffered most from wear and, being smaller, have often missed out on refurbishment funding.
“We know that to improve student outcomes, earlier intervention is required. The need in primary schools from this point of view is high and the focus on them in the BER is therefore welcome,” he says.
Professor Lamb says the impact of the learning environment cannot be underestimated.
“While some research suggests schools can achieve good outcomes in fairly impoverished settings, the quality of buildings, facilities and resources can play a big role in student engagement, helping children feel ‘attached’ to school.”
But he says such resources are presently unevenly distributed across schools, and before any decisions were made about access to funding, an extensive audit was warranted.
“Probably for me the most critical limitation of BER is its indiscriminate design and application.
“While this is understandable from the point of view of the GFC and the need for stimulus in the building industry, it does not allow for the necessary careful planning and targeted development.
“Not all schools have the same levels of need. Some schools already have high quality facilities and for these schools this scheme will simply add more capital where capital is already abundant.
“By not assessing relative need the program will actually increase gaps across the school system.”
Professorial Fellow and former Dean of Education Professor Brian Caldwell also endorses the program – with the proviso that it should be the first step in a broader strategy for school renewal.
“Last century’s factory model or production-line schooling, where groups of 30-40 children progressed in lock-step through the school system, does not deliver the best outcomes,” he explains.
“Many schools, especially primary schools, were built as a series of boxes, and now hundreds if not thousands of schools really need to be bulldozed and replaced.”
Although he acknowledges economic stimulus was a strong motivation for the program, he is surprised by the lack of consultation and would have preferred to see a 10-year Commonwealth/States rebuilding plan. He cites a program put in place by the UK’s Blair Government, which has seen all British secondary and most primary schools rebuilt.
A similar program in Australia would cost $40 billion, and would be an infrastructure project with the potential to deliver a real education revolution.
Professor Caldwell says research now coming out of the English system validates such an ambitious spend on renewal, with evidence showing the provision of beautiful, well-thought out schools can have the greatest effect in some of the most disadvantaged settings.
“The UK was full of schools where teachers hated teaching, and students hated learning. Now there’s no place where students would rather be. Schools are great learning and social spaces, and teachers are proud to work in them.”
Professor Caldwell says if we’re serious about enhancing education, we need a big agenda for change, addressing in a co-ordinated way how to attract top-flight teachers, and have them able to work in top-flight environments, with classrooms of various sizes enabling small group work, some large, collective learning spaces, and specialist spaces for art, music, drama, library, and science.
“All of these things need to be core to all schools,” he says.
Beyond educational benefits of building refurbishment, and with the GFC apparently easing, is the ever-present issue of sustainability.
“If we don’t bring environmental and educational imperatives together, government funds will be wasted on buildings that won’t stand the test of time,” says Clare Newton from the University’s Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.
“School building design needs to be innovative and environmentally sustainable with teachers aware the physical environment can be a major component of education, and willing to fully explore the potential of the environment as a 3D textbook to facilitate learning.”
A Chief Investigator on two industry-linked research grants into teaching spaces, Clare Newton says educators need to better understand their physical learning spaces, and architects and designers need to better understand the spatial needs of educators.
Her ARC Linkage Grant 2007-2009 on ‘Smart Green Schools’ has focused on changing the perception of how learning environments can be used as 3D textbooks. “We’re looking at how years 5-8 learning spaces can support new and future teaching and pedagogical approaches – including the integration of ICT and multimedia technologies – and how this works into sustainable school building designs.”
Educators, architects and designers will have a chance to hear and debate the ideas of Smart Green Schools at the Faculty’s “Talking Spaces” forum from October 29-31 at the University.
www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/research/funded/smart-green-schools/talking-spaces.html
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