The School is Dead, Long Live the School!: Planning Schools in the Dawn of a New Era
Prakash Nair, RA, REFP and Jeffery A. Lackney, Ph.D., A.I.A.
Seminar conducted at CEFPI's 78th Annual International Conference: Creating High Performing Schools, Denver, CO., October 17-20, 2001.
View the PowerPoint Presentation
New school designers should think about the future - think about it as they did when they were teenagers. - Dr. John Friedrick, Conserve School Founding Director.
Nature has not adapted the young animal to the narrow desk, the crowded curriculum, the silent absorption of complicated facts. - John Dewey, School of Tomorrow
Introduction
Many have said it is time to completely discard the current model of schooling in favor of one more suited to the world into which our children will graduate, a model that recognizes the distinction between schooling and the lifelong endeavor called learning. While this debate over the best way to reshape our schools rages on, the chasm between the built school and its ability to influence real learning grows larger and larger.
What new and expanded roles should school facility planners who give physical form to the future of education play? How can we influence the creation of a great new generation of learning places?
This highly interactive session began with some provocative ideas to stimulate a rethinking of the notion of 'school' - redraw it from the ground up. This session drew heavily on research, innovations in the field of education and the personal experiences of both presenters and participants. The purpose of this interactive session was not to provide simplistic answers but to inspire a creative thinking about how we might plan schools rooted in today's reality but inspired by dreams for tomorrow.
A Comparison between the Schooling Model and Learning Model Paradigms
Schooling Model - All students can learn the same things in the same way from the same people at the same time in the same place.
Learning Model - All persons are learners. Each learner learns different things in different ways and from other learners at different times in different places.
Organizational Structure
Governance
Schooling Model - Emphasis on management from the top, efficiency, bureaucratic.
Learning Model - Emphasis on leadership, collaborative, effectiveness, horizontal.
Teacher Groupings
Schooling Model - Departmental.
Learning Model - Interdisciplinary.
Student Groupings
Schooling Model - Single learner groups (+/- 30 'pupils').
Learning Model - Multiple learner groupings.
Relationship to external entities
Schooling Model - Sharp boundary and distinction between school/community (public sector), and school/business (private sector), separation, distance.
Learning Model - Permeable boundary between school and community, a 'community of learners', school-to-career.
Pedagogical Structure
Epistemological presuppositions
Schooling Model - Student as container of knowledge/empty vessel.
Learning Model - Student as constructor/creator of knowledge.
Theory of Learning
Schooling Model - Stimulus-response.
Learning ModelConstructivist (Dewey, Vigotsky, etc).
Curriculum
Schooling Model - Segmented, subject areas.
Learning Model - Thematic units, Integrated, Contenxtualized.
Instruction
Schooling Model - Discipline focus, lecture and recitation.
Learning Model - Interdisciplinary focus, cooperative group learning, individual, self-directed learning.
Facility Development Process
Planning/Design
Schooling Model - Top-down district-driven decision-making, limited community involvement (coercive).
Learning ModelBottom-up community-driven, democratic, collaborative planning (emancipatory).
Environmental/Facility Management
Schooling Model - District-based management.
Learning Model - Site-based management.
Questions Raised in the Seminar
Is the Learning Model a legitimate and permanent shift in educational philosophy (allowing it to be identified as a paradigm shift) or is it simply a "fad" whose influence will wear off soon? If legitimate, should the provided definition be amended or enlarged?
Can you mix and match the learning and schooling models? Can the two co-exist or is it necessary to choose between them. If they can co-exist, perhaps an argument can be made that the Learning Model is not truly a new paradigm, but only a refinement of the existing Schooling Model paradigm.
What specific examples can attendees provide from their own personal experiences which demonstrate a clash of the paradigms - how are these problems being resolved? How far do the ripples of policy decisions go that enable the Learning Model to be implemented?
What changed role should facility planners play to effectuate the new Learning Model paradigm?
What is the role of facilities under the new paradigm - can audience members provide specific examples of innovative thinking - either whole schools or educational programs that represent the new paradigm?
