ORGANISING 16 CLASSROOM SPACE

Understanding and managing classroom space

Classroom environment interacts powerfully with teaching and learning, so how can you ensure teachers throughout your school are making the best use of the space to maximise the learning that goes on? Jane McGregor explains how, even when changing the size of the space is not possible, there is much that can be done to change how the space within classrooms is used
Space is fundamentally implicated in creating and maintaining the school and the classroom. In this understanding, rather than a predetermined place, schools may be seen as a result of relationships and materially embedded practices. As discussed elsewhere in this publication, the architecture of schools and classrooms embodies ideologies of education and pedagogy through their physical arrangement and the interaction with social space. This is employed through timetables, rules and other habitual organisational practices. Space has such a taken-for-granted quality that it blinds us to the fundamental ways in which the school is spatially constituted. In secondary schools, the almost ubiquitous orderings of classrooms, laboratories, dining halls and staffrooms obscure the way in which the setting is active in sustaining certain power relations between adults and students and between different groups of students (McGregor, 2004b). The environment can only make a difference if it is used by creative teachers with an appropriate curriculum and resources. Yet for many teachers their environment is still a blind spot: unchanging, unchangeable and beyond their control an obstacle that they must work around, rather than a tool to support and enhance their practice.

Harmful effects of poor learning environment

The effect of low-quality learning environments can be to: reduce the range of teaching and learning styles possible and affect the interaction between teacher and student undermine the value placed on learning not meet individual needs by being poorly adaptable hinder creativity be inefficient, wasting time and effort cost more in the long term.
General teaching spaces have been dominated in the last century by one type of design: tutorfocused, one-way facing and presentational, with seating arranged in either a U-shape or in straight rows. Technologies have subsequently been added interactive or conventional whiteboards mounted on the wall behind the main speaker, ceiling-mounted projectors with cabling to a laptop, a wireless network and/or wired computers but these have rarely altered the dynamics of the design. (Alexi Marmot

Associates, 2006).
Yet, it does not have to be like this. If starting from scratch, there are more possibilities for innovation and, as a precursor to the Building Schools for the Future programme, a series of well-funded and innovative pilot designs for Classrooms of the Future have been developed with 12 local authorities, sponsored by the DfES. The ideas are available on the website: www.teachernet.gov.uk/ futureclassrooms, although not all of them have actually been built or posted on the site as yet. The case study article on Yewlands School in Sheffield, on pages 4450, shows how one example Classroom of the Future is integral to a Skills for Learning curriculum.

(Design Council, 2005b)

Schools and classrooms that trace their origin back to the late 19th century present universally recognised images across nations and cultures. Their familiarity and continuity presents them unproblematically, somehow pre-existing and almost immutable. The hidden curriculum is one way in which power operates and school space is increasingly understood to be important in constructing and maintaining it. People are shaped not only through social interaction but also through the material world in which they live. The physical setting, such as the arrangement of rooms and the objects within them, conveys subtle (and more overt) socialisation messages, of which most people are typically unaware. The classroom itself represents a hidden form of curriculum. Low-quality, standardised and institutional classroom environments and resources are not just uninspiring, they can be harmful see the box above right.

The classroom itself represents a hidden form of curriculum low-quality, standardised and institutional classroom environments and resources are not just uninspiring, they can be harmful

Teacher- and learner-centred lesson models

Teacher-centred lessons Content focused Requires memorising Rote-learning Individual testing Problems not real Set tasks Subject/discipline based Rigid timetables and supervision Learner-centred lessons Process-focused pupils are learning to learn Critical thinking Ability to communicate Teamwork/collaboration Authentic problem-solving Project-based learning Cross-disciplinary working Ability to self-organise
Source: (R. Fisher, 2005)

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Changing structures
The box-like structure of many classrooms, with the teacher zone of the desk or dais (in laboratories) at the front, sends immediate messages about control, supporting a didactic approach and mindset, yet the pattern is so familiar, we often fail to question it.

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Classroom ownership
In conventional secondary schools, it is generally teachers who are allocated teaching rooms and who own the classroom, while the students move around the school. Although there are commonly ongoing negotiations and resistance over the control of space in the classroom, Gordon and Lahelma found that they were seen by students as teachers spaces: For teachers their classroom is more of a private space, for students it is more of a public space (Gordon and Lahelma, 1996). Hence hierarchical relationships may be played out where the teacher is perceived to be the sole authority, transmitting knowledge and being in control. Classrooms embody pedagogic ideologies and relationships, resulting from different approaches to the control, or facilitation of activities. Spaces tell students a great deal about adult expectations and power structures. Teachers draw on space to assert their authority, often through the control of movement, noise and even light in the classroom. They place value on maintaining orderly relations, and the control of noise and movement in the classroom can be seen as a measure of teaching success as much as what pupils know or have learned. One way that teachers exert this control is through teacher-centred learning. This has often become so entrenched that it can be easy to lose sight of what makes for a learner-centred lesson. The box at the bottom of page 16 sets out the key elements that illustrate the difference between the teacher-transmission model compared with the learner-centred one. Research has shown that non-traditional teachers are more likely to modify the classroom to produce what they believed to be a more effective working environment, for example, through displays and alternative furniture arrangements (Bissell, 2004). Curriculum managers need to put systems in place to help all teachers to move towards this approach to the classroom as a learning environment. The articles contained in this publication give various strategies that you can use to help in this endeavour.

Spatial analysis
Much of the work relating to space and the classroom has derived from research into gender relations and inequalities in schools. A spatial analysis of relations may be traced through research into classroom dynamics, where well-documented studies have shown that (some) boys dominate the processes of construction and use of space (Paechter, 1998). However, there is an increasing interest in spatial arrangements in the classroom, exploring inequalities in spatial processes as well as outcomes, as evidenced by this edition of Curriculum Briefing. It is the interaction between the physical, social and organisational environment that create particular spaces for learning and support different types of relationships. The familiar and taken-forgranted architectures of schools often feed into our lack of awareness of the workings of spatiality. However, increasingly, research demonstrates that the learning environment affects the engagement, motivation, self-esteem, attendance, wellbeing and achievement of students (Higgins et al, 2005). So schools do need to pay attention to spatial issues and how they impact on the learning environment. It is a primary responsibility of adults in schools to configure the environment so that there are different spaces for different activities and forms of learning. A spatial approach to exploring relationships can illuminate the dynamics of the class, developing a spatial literacy (R. Fisher, 2005) that makes possible the creation of different and more democratic relationships. The notion of learning spaces and spaces of dialogue are increasingly employed to identify such possibilities and it is suggested that learning that takes place in those spaces has the potential to transform relationships. The environment can also close off spaces for learning. Most teachers are aware of how easy it is to focus attention on the middle of the classroom, rather than the sides, with the result that students not wishing to participate in whole-class work sit at the side, while those who may misbehave traditionally try to sit at the back. Likewise, peer pressure can be a significant element, positive or negative in taking up opportunities to learn. As discussed above, if students and teachers feel valued and secure they are more likely to achieve their goals.

The physical setting, such as the arrangement of rooms and the objects within them conveys subtle (and more overt) socialisation messages, of which most people are typically unaware

Improving given environment

Janice Bissell, in a study of teacher modification of the classroom environment, found that: Teachers whose work patterns are predominantly traditional make few modifications to their classrooms, although most have added shelving and file storage. In contrast, teachers with predominantly non-traditional work patterns made significant changes to their classrooms; some permanent, others that take place as needed. Teachers view these modifications as critical in supporting their conceptions of effective teaching. (Bissell, 2004) However limited the resources in terms of time and money, small changes can always be made to the physical environment to make the dullest classroom more attractive and welcoming. This could be borrowing plants from the science department or using coloured backing paper for display. Bissell noted that the non-traditional teachers who modified their classroom, often drastically, spent a significant amount of time and effort in making the classroom an effective workspace and learning environment.

It is the interaction between the physical, social and organisational environment that create particular spaces for learning and support different types of relationships

e-learning types
Same Time

Distributed synchronous learning

Different

E-classroom E-library
Same Location CB VOL 5 NO 2 2007

Distributed asynchronous learning

Different

E-campus

(Yapp, 2004)

ORGANISING 18 CLASSROOM SPACE

Space for personalised learning

Space has such a There is currently much discussion about taken-for-granted personalising learning, putting the learner at the quality that it centre, enabling them to learn at a pace agreed blinds us to the between student and teacher. It will require changes fundamental ways in school organisation and this may include greater in which the school autonomy, more individualised learning, a different school day and year, all-through schools, perhaps fully is spatially integrating special educational needs provision, or constituted
schools within schools, where large schools are subdivided into smaller self-contained units with vertical structures. The personalisation agenda has strong implications for the classroom environment and also the potential to be strongly supported by digital technologies within and beyond the classroom. Chris Yapp, Head of Public Sector Innovation for Microsoft, has identified types of e-learning with different implications for organisation in the classroom and the school (see the diagram at the bottom of page 17). The rapid development and uptake of technologies has a profound influence on possibilities for learning and the skills needed to employ them productively. In the same way that the growth of the internet could not have been predicted 50 years ago, we do not know the changes in technologies and economies that the pupils of today will face in the next decade.

Criteria for modern classrooms

Modern classrooms have to: accommodate the formation and functioning of small learning groups while providing a sense of separation because groups working together will experience distractions and nonproductive interaction be flexible enough to allow the continual reorganisation of the whole class into various sizes and numbers of small learning groups; this means the space must be as free as possible of permanent obstructions be manageable by a single teacher who has command of the entire space (Dyck, 1994); this means the space must be compact and open.
One thing that is likely is that effective personalised learning environments, supported by ICT, will be those that extend beyond the classroom. Learners can create a coherent experience of learning in diverse locations, collaborate with experts in areas of personal interest, track and renew their own learning across different sites and stages of education, have access to resources in forms and media relevant to their language skills, abilities and personal preferences. (Green

Small changes can always be made to the physical environment to make the dullest classroom more attractive and welcoming

et al, 2005).

Different classroom layouts

Fat L classroom The Fat L layout, designed by Dyck (1994), evolved from an understanding that the classroom should provide individuals with places where they have the opportunity to learn from their engagements in the physical environment. This reflects an understanding that the learning environment not only affords Fat L classroom layout multiple activity settings, but also is an integrated, flexible and variable environment. Each leg of the Fat L may be used to create activity settings for individual, one-to-one, small-group, and large-group activities, where the teacher moves around, always in view of what is happening. Outside of the classroom there may be related activity settings, such as niches, hubs and alcoves that can extend and connect learning activities, especially in relation to themed or project work. Unlike a traditional square shape classroom, the L-shape may be understood as a learning centre that has been designed to support multiple activity settings. This provides opportunities for explorations that challenge pupils to work in their zone of proximal development but in a safe setting (Lippman, 2004). CB VOL 5 NO 2 2007 Triangular classroom The triangular classroom was developed at a special school called Cam House in Dursley, Gloucestershire. The school caters for boys aged 1116 taken out of mainstream education due to behavioural and emotional difficulties. Classes are no more than eight, so the triangle formation is rather different there than it would be in a conventional 30-pupil class.
It works by putting the longest line of pupils on the front row, and then tapers towards the back with just one pupil on the back row, explains Gail Howells, who teaches at Cam House. The big advantage is view: I can see them all better. It is a very flexible arrangement, too it means it is easy to regroup them quickly, if we want to, during a lesson. (Moorhead, 2001)

360-degree classroom One of 10 Design Council Learning Campaign projects was the creation of a 360-degree classroom at St Margarets High School in Liverpool (for more details on this, see the article by Sean McDougall on pages 1015). This all-boys school relied on whiteboards around the room that could be projected on to or used horizontally, and specially designed chairs that allowed students to face in any direction as appropriate. Instead of simply standing at the front, their teacher circles them on a curved racetrack, occasionally taking up a position on a podium in the centre of the room. Reluctant students can no longer skulk at the back of the class or plant themselves on the periphery of the teachers field of vision. The whiteboards fit back on to the walls of the classroom so the classs work can be discussed. To see this, the boys swivel round on their seats, before swivelling back into a semicircle around the teacher to examine a diagram. The wallboards can also become screens for computer projections. The temperature and light in the room are electronically controlled and mirrors mounted at three points serve as eyes in the back of the teachers head. Thorpe and Asthena (2005) sum up the benefits of this classroom arrangement:
Consigning the teacher to a desk at the front is thought to stop him or her thinking freely, while the cheaper chairs commonly used in schools can cause back pain over the 15,000 hours spent sitting down in an average school life. The round classroom also eradicates the so-called attention zone, a triangle immediately in front of the teacher which inevitably receives 90 per cent of his or her attention.

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Spatial arrangements
Different forms of classroom arrangement facilitate or inhibit different forms of learning. If teachers are more facilitative than didactic and learning occurs through full participation in an appropriate variety of often exploratory activities, then we may move more towards an education appropriate for the 21st century, rather than the production line of many 19th- and 20thcentury schools, effectively designed on a factory model (see my overview article on pages 39). Dyck (1994) developed some criteria for the modern classroom see the box at the top of page 18. Different styles of layout used in modern classrooms are discussed in the box at the bottom of page 18.

Relating teachers to their rooms

Type of room Efficient, well organised Teacher type Technocrat Pedagogic aim/belief Opportunity to explore and understand materials Facilitating individual expression Classroom as therapy room, pupils feel nurtured Visually rich environment will facilitate perpetual development
Source: Hickman, 2001

Anarchic art studio Home from home

High priest Social worker

Anthropological museum

Pedagogue

Room types
Much can be learned from early years practice and the organisation of primary classrooms. Research studies of primary teaching have repeatedly shown that the way classrooms are usually organised makes learning unnecessarily difficult for most pupils, whose attention and behaviour have been shown to benefit from creating a better match between working contexts and tasks (Hastings and Chantrey-Wood, 2002). In an article on art teachers and their rooms, Richard Hickman (2001) suggests that art teachers show an awareness of needing to work in an environment not threatening, institutionalised or dull, but welcoming, personalised and intriguing, although he does point out that some art rooms could also be sterile. The box above right relates room types to teacher types and links each to a pedagogic aim.

Being flexible
To facilitate different modes of learning, classroom/faculty space should ideally be as flexible as possible, with the means to facilitate individual and group activities as well as whole-class work. Since different room arrangements serve different purposes, it is necessary for classrooms to have some degree of flexibility the case study on a classroom of the future developed at Yewlands School is one example of this

Personalisation agenda has strong implications for the classroom environment and also the potential to be strongly supported by digital technologies within and beyond the classroom

(see pages 4450). Different approaches to classroom layout, with horseshoe shapes or groups of tables, are as familiar as the traditional desks facing the front (where the teachers desk and blackboard/ whiteboard are situated). It is important to achieve a balance between permanent and changing classroom elements, such as displays. Frequent changes to display could leave students not knowing what to expect and feeling insecure in the learning environment; displays that never change could mean the environment feels stale and boring. Considerations to counter this are outlined in the box below left. For more on how to maximise the impact of display space on learning, see the article on pages 2834. Some schools have a designated member of staff who is responsible for displays and who can advise teachers on points regarding visual literacy.

Challenge for future

In relation to education and schools, we may ask: where does student-centred learning take place, in what modes, in what places and at what times? Schools and education for the 21st century need to be designed in relation to what we know about learning, with the flexibility to respond to what we do not know about the future. This is the challenge, to create true classrooms of the future.

Flexible displays
To allow for flexibility of displays in the classroom: have semi-permanent displays, such as important words, concepts or objectives, but interestingly presented make sure that every paper-based display has a learning/teaching focus think carefully about whose work is displayed, how it is displayed and why make sure that students can interact with technologies, such as whiteboards, but also use walls for activities, for example, with Post-It notes use and maintain high-quality materials where possible.

Jane McGregor, Research Fellow, Nottingham University Jane also works with local authorities on issues around space and schools. You can email her at: Jane.McGregor@educationresearch.co.uk

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