Action ReseaRch

 

Does your learning environment align with your pedagogical vision? Will it cater to different students and their needs? Do you need expert guidance to become the school you aspire to be?

 

Space matters

Planning Learning Spaces was published in October 2019 as a guide for anyone involved in the planning and design of learning environments. The book brought together educationalists and innovative school architects from all over the world to pool their collective expertise and inspire the design of more intelligent learning spaces.

Planning Learning Spaces in Practice was launched to help schools translate their educational vision into learning space design principles, enabling them to create new, or refurbish existing, spaces that actively support their learning goals.

Shape your space

We know the impact learning environments have on educational outcomes, yet the majority of school classrooms are over 40 years old and even new builds fail to learn the lessons of research like The Clever Classrooms report.

Our process engages with the teachers to help the school effectively recreate their learning spaces so that they align with their vision for learning and teaching.

Planning Learning Spaces in Practice

Using our proprietary tools we guide schools through a reflective process, building the link between curriculum and design via a structured framework.

Focusing on the school’s vision, values and ethos, the process helps translate learning behaviours and activities into  learning space design principles, enabling them to create new, or refurbish existing, spaces that actively support their learning goals.

Project team

Our core team is based in The Cambridge Centre for Learning Spaces and we work with partners worldwide to bring this expertise to schools looking to improve their learning spaces.

Terry White

Project Director, Co-Author of PLS and Chairman of a4le

Bhavini Pandya

Gratnells Learning Rooms Leader and Lead Project Facilitator

Professor Peter Barrett

Author of ‘The Clever Classroom Report’, Project research and evaluation.

Professor Peter Barrett, author of the Clever Classrooms report, is monitoring the project to see how the learning outcomes of pupils are affected by this ‘hands on’ approach to creating their own learning environments. “The Planning Learning Spaces approach represents common sense about the positive articulation of spaces and pedagogy,” he said. “Delivering a methodology that makes this connection explicit, and ultimately driven by educational imperatives, is a really important potential contribution and I look forward to being involved in the rigorous assessment of outputs from this project.”

Find out more about our process

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