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Memorandum
To: Education & Skills Committee, House of Commons
Subject: Press Notice No. 33 from the Education and Skills Committee - Announcement of Sustainable Schools Inquiry
From: The Sorrell Foundation
Date: 13 June 2006 ________________________________________________________
The Sorrell Foundation
The aim of the Sorrell Foundation is to inspire creativity in young people and to improve the quality of life through good design. It creates and prototypes new initiatives to explore their potential before development, and seeks new ways to join up public sectors such as education and health with the UK's world-class design community. The fast-track nature of the Foundation's work aims to deliver immediate benefits whilst creating models with long-term value.
Recommendations summary
The Sorrell Foundation has two main recommendations for action:
1. To make it mandatory to form a pupil client team in every school undertaking a Building Schools for the Future or Primary Capital development in order to engage the primary stakeholder in the consultation process
2. To ensure that all of the twelve common issues identified by pupils during the joinedupdesignforschools programme become part of the conversation for every school planning design improvements.
Major benefits would ensue from adopting these recommendations
We believe the benefits that would ensue from implementing these recommendations would be as follows: the pupils will develop valuable life skills; the stakeholder engagement will point towards a different way of learning; teachers and school staff will gain professional development; early sample schools will generate innovative, practical and scaleable designs for schools across the UK; architectural and design practices will gain first-hand experience of school needs.
Contents
1 Giving pupils the responsibility of being clients
2 Common issues identified by pupils
3 Linking education and design
4 Using the joinedupdesignforschools process
5 Implications for the schools rebuilding and refurbishment programmes
6 Recommendations
1 Giving pupils the responsibility of being clients
The Sorrell Foundation was set up by Frances and John Sorrell in 1999 to inspire creativity in young people and to improve the quality of life through good design. Joinedupdesignforschools started as a pilot working with six schools in 2000. After six years of development with over 100 schools, the programme has become a model showing how to give young people a say in the way their schools are designed. Joinedupdesignforschools gives pupils the role of clients. They work as a client team to create a brief for a design project that will improve quality of life in their school. A designer or architect is appointed to work for them, and together they engage in a carefully tested process that leads to innovative design concepts for schools. The process develops the pupils' life skills and has generated a list of common issues that pupils want to address, from improving unhygienic toilet blocks to creating inspiring learning spaces. The Foundation is producing a guide to using the process, and a pilot for a possible further model, with higher education students in the role of designers, is under way.
Joinedupdesignforschools listens to the main consumers of education - the pupils themselves. By giving them the responsibility of being the clients, of being their school's representatives and decision-makers, they experience a situation that teaches them skills such as communication, teamwork, negotiation and problem-solving. The key to this learning is the development of the pupils' relationship with their consultants, the designers and architects.
In the joinedupdesignforschools programme, pupils worked with some of the UK's leading names in design and architecture, including the Richard Rogers Partnership, Paul Smith, Thomas Heatherwick, Alsop Architects, Priestman Goode, Wolff Olins and Conran & Partners. More than 50 such firms were involved, and they all responded seriously to the briefs set by their pupil client teams. They have created concepts for better learning and social spaces, more civilised eating places, uniforms that pupils want to wear, toilets that are clean and safe, schools that are brighter and more colourful, and that have new identities of which the pupils can be proud. In short, the designers and architects created places where 21st-century pupils want to be.
Some of the concepts have been implemented and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) is providing match-funding to enable several more to become a reality. Over five years, the Sorrell Foundation ran projects and workshops in 100 schools, working closely with 700 pupils in client teams, often involving the entire population in each school, which means that a total of more than 10,000 pupils have been involved in joinedupdesignforschools. The Foundation also organised a national touring exhibition, which involved more schools and pupils. The 2005 - 2006 touring exhibition traveled the country to regions in the first wave of Building Schools for the Future (BSF) delivery. At each of 8 venues, it hosted receptions and forums to ask the question, what are the benefits, and what are the obstacles, to involving pupils, the primary stakeholders, in the BSF process. 2 Common issues identified by pupils
During the joinedupdesignforschools process the Sorrell Foundation set up workshops across the UK, and around 700 pupils came to discuss what they would like to improve in their schools. The pupils identified over 100 issues. They were concerned about the social areas of their school, the learning spaces, the school's impact on the environment, the role and reputation of the school in the community, disability access, and the school facilities. Their attitude was public-spirited and community-minded. After much debate, 12 key issues emerged. These common issues have been made available in a series of publications and on the web as a guide for schools, architects, designers, local authorities, consortiums and contractors involved in rebuilding Britain's schools. Throughout the discussions, the pupils made it clear that they wanted to be proud of their schools and they wanted to be directly involved in helping to improve their schools. They did not want improvements "done" to them - they wanted to help do them, to be a part of building their school for the future.
Common issues
Colour: They want to brighten up their schools and use colour to enhance atmosphere and mood. Communication: They want to tell pupils, teachers, parents and the community what is going on. Dinner halls and canteens: They want a civilised lunch time with less chaos and more time to relax. Learning spaces: They want modern, inspiring places to learn. Reception areas: They want parents, new pupils, the local community and visitors to feel welcome. Reputation and identity: They want to be proud of their school and sure of what it stands for. Sixth form spaces: They want rooms where they can socialise and work on their own. Social spaces: They want sheltered spaces to "chat and chill" during break. Storage: They want secure places to put their books, stationery, equipment, bags and coats. Toilets: They want toilets to be clean, hygienic and safe. Uniform: They want comfortable, smart, "cool-looking" clothes that they will be proud to wear. Whole school plan: They want to contribute to a vision for a new school.
3 Linking education and design
The UK design industry is a world leader in terms of talent, creativity, quality, size and breadth of design disciplines. However, the majority of the work it carries out is for the private sector. One of the aims of joinedupdesignforschools was to explore how the expertise of UK designers could also benefit schools. Over 50 design consultancies and 150 architects and designers have worked on the programme, bringing skills from design disciplines such as architecture, product, new media, communication, fashion and clothing, reputation and identity, interior, landscape and graphics. Their contribution demonstrates the benefits of engaging the UK's design industry properly with schools, to make a difference to the lives of pupils and staff and create a better learning environment for the future. If we can use this wealth of design talent and join it up with the primary consumers of education, the pupils themselves, we stand a better chance of giving our children some of the best schools in the world.
4 Using the joinedupdesignforschools process
The joinedupdesignforschools process can be used for any type of school design project, whether it is part of Building Schools for the Future, the Primary Capital programme, or building a new Academy. It can also be used when planning a smaller intervention, such as designing new locker and storage systems, a new school uniform, better school signage or a new identity for the school. The process can equally be used to teach life skills in a classroom learning project. For the joinedupdesignforschools process to give the best results, it should be used in its full form and started at the beginning of the design development as part of the overall vision and brief, before any design decisions are made. It will work best if the pupils are completely involved at all stages in a genuine, extended dialogue with the designers and architects. The Sorrell Foundation is producing a guide called How to use joinedupdesignforschools, which will be available in printed form and online in September 2006. Six 10 minute case studies are being shown on Teachers' TV and are downloadable for teachers to use.
5 Implications for the schools rebuilding and refurbishment programmes
Between now and 2025, the government is planning to rebuild or refurbish all secondary schools and half the primary schools in the UK, through the Building Schools for the Future and Primary Capital programmes. The aim is to ensure that every child is educated in a 21st-century environment. It is the biggest and most strategic capital investment in school buildings in over 50 years. As any major school design project gets underway, teachers have to be consulted, as do governors, parents, the local community and the local authority. Pupils are just one voice in the client jigsaw puzzle. But theirs is perhaps the most important voice, and it is vital that it is sufficiently heard. The pupils are the primary consumers of education; they know a tremendous amount about the school environment, and they both want and need to be involved. If fully consulted, they can provide extremely valuable knowledge to architects, designers and contractors. The joinedupdesignforschools process can help ensure the pupil voice is properly heard.
Schools benefit from this engagement in the following ways. They gain: Fresh thinking: Head teachers and governors encounter a fresh way of thinking about how to tackle school design. Excellent design: The unique combination of young minds with first-hand knowledge working with creative professionals, generates excellent design solutions. Life skills: Pupils in the client teams become more self-confident and develop a range of new skills. Professional development: Many teachers say they discovered new approaches and different methods for helping pupils learn by working with design professionals. Common Issues: Issues identified by pupils are helping schools, architects, designers, local authorities, consortiums and contractors in their design decisions. A new model: Joinedupdesignforschools has created a pupil-focused model that all schools can use in building/refurbishment programmes, or simply as a tool to help pupils learn life skills. Implemented designs: A number of schools have had their joinedupdesigns implemented, these act as representative models for BSF delivery.
6 Recommendations
Given the impacts and benefits identified by the joinedupdesign-forschools model, demonstrating the positive outcomes of engaging pupils in the delivery process, we believe it should be mandatory to form a pupil client team in every school undertaking a Building Schools for the Future or Primary Capital development. The client team should be properly involved throughout the process, following the joinedupdesignforschools model. We also believe it is imperative that all of the twelve common issues identified by pupils during the joinedupdesignforschools programme become part of the conversation for every school planning design improvements.
The benefits that would ensue from implementing these recommendations would be as follows: the pupils will develop valuable life skills; the stakeholder engagement will point towards a different way of learning; teachers and school staff will gain professional development; early sample schools will generate innovative, practical and scaleable designs for schools across the UK; architectural and design practices will gain first-hand experience of school needs.
The Sorrell Foundation June 2006 |