Teachers could teach in any sort of space so long as there was some element of flexibility with the physical spaces and they had a decent teaching method, school leaders said yesterday.
Education Minister Erica Stanford made the announcement about open-plan classrooms earlier this week, saying the government would instead ensure all new classrooms were designed in a flexible way which, it believed, would result in better outcomes for pupils and students.
St Clair School principal Jen Rogers said flexible learning spaces offered the best of both worlds.
In my mind, that is absolutely the best possible opportunity for learning ... you can shut down to small spaces and you can open."
It was the right decision to pull back from really bespoke, expensive, architecturally designed spaces" that were an inefficient use of limited funds.
Teachers could teach from any space so long as they had a decent method of teaching.
Effective teaching can happen anywhere.
It can happen outside with no classroom walls."
Ms Rogers was part of a ministry group that was helping to develop plans for modular classrooms to meet the needs of different schools.
A variety of plans would give schools a set of ready-to-go options for new classrooms.
The ministry was aware one size did not fit all and was trying to reduce the amount spent on architects designing classrooms, Ms Rogers said.
Wakatipu High School principal Oded Nathan said the school’s experience with open-plan classrooms had been good.
Certainly from a student achievement outcome there have been some very positive outcomes.
Our students are achieving at very high levels with high levels of engagement from a teaching standpoint."
While there were opportunities for distractions in open-plan classrooms, students who needed more support to self regulate could easily be moved to help them focus.
Open-plan spaces were used in cases where two classes were being taught the same lesson, which meant the two teachers could collaborate.
Sliding doors offered the flexibility to close spaces as well.
Flexibility was what was needed to suit different schools’ teaching methods, Mr Nathan said.
mark john@odt.co.nz
