House of Commons - Administration

Select Committee on Administration First Report

4 What should be provided in the dedicated Education facilities?

What can the Parliamentary Education Service offer to schools now?

65. As described in paragraph 34, the Parliamentary Education Service works for both Houses and has the temporary use of two meeting rooms on the Estate to hold teaching sessions. The Education Service is able to host up to three school visits a day during term time, with a maximum of 32 people per group—which includes two or three teachers.

66. Activities during a school visit will normally include:

A tour of the Palace or a gallery visit. Tours are generally one hour long and involve question and answer sessions on the work of Parliament, rather than a lecture, offering a challenging opportunity for children to learn more about Parliament's role. Tour content is adapted according to the age of the school children.

Interactive activities such as mock elections, making laws, writing mock bills, making a manifesto, dressing up and role play, looking at important parliamentary reforms in history using a timeline, and 'have your say' debates. Sessions are based on themes.

Talks with Members of both Houses.

Lesson plans and supporting resources are made available to teachers to use in their own classrooms. All these publications are available on the part of the website dedicated to young people and teachers—http://explore.parliament.uk/

67. In addition, Pupil Parliaments are held ten times a year, usually in Committee Room 10. Each Parliament involves 64 students between the ages of 11 to 18, from four different schools. Resource packs are sent to schools in advance.

SHORTFALLS OF THE CURRENT PROVISION FOR SCHOOLS

68. There are approximately 3,300,000 children in secondary education. The Education Service is able to support between 10,000 and 18,000 school visitors a year in its current facilities, while the Central Tours Office provides a more limited service for a further 40,000-50,000 school and other educational visitors.[62] The fact that there is a waiting list of two terms illustrates that demand for the Education Service is already high. A survey conducted by Continental Research in 2005 found that 77% of schools who had visited wanted to do so again.

69. It is difficult for the Education Service both to satisfy the demand of schools who want to visit again and to reach out to schools who have not visited before. The Service has calculated that by expanding the visits programme it would be possible to increase the number of school visitors to 28,000 but no further.[63] In order to increase capacity and enable more schools to visit, the Education Service needs more space.

70. Should a dedicated education space be found on or off the existing Parliamentary Estate, the Education Service estimates that the number of learners visiting Parliament could increase from 11,000 in 2005-06 to 100,000 in future years.[64] However, the accommodation would need to be flexible in order to achieve this.

71. Apart from the obvious limits in terms of the number of children that can be accommodated at any one time, the Education Service told us that the quality and range of the programmes that can be provided for schools are also limited by the current facilities:

The rooms used are standard meetings rooms and are not tailored for children and creative activities.
The rooms have no computer facilities, and the room in 1 Parliament Street does not even have tables.
The rooms have to be left exactly as they are found as they are booked by others after 5pm. This means that school work can not be fixed to the walls and Education Service staff have to set up the rooms before each lesson and clear up afterward.
The rooms are only available to provide learning sessions during the school year and are not available to groups other than schools.
There are no ancillary spaces for lunch or cloakrooms.
The noise from school groups often causes a disturbance to Members and others in neighbouring offices. There is limited space for large numbers of children outside meeting rooms, and this can cause congestion in the corridors and around nearby toilet facilities.
In addition, the room in 1 Parliament St is awkwardly located in terms of safely shepherding children around the Estate on educational tours.

What facilities should Parliament provide for its educational visitors?

72. In this section we look at evidence from London Museums on their experience of providing facilities for school groups and we examine proposals from the Education Service on the facilities they consider necessary for the development of high quality educational programmes for school groups.

EVIDENCE TO THE COMMITTEE FROM LONDON MUSEUMS

73. We took evidence from a number of museums and organisations on the facilities that ought to be provided for visitors, and in particular schools, by Parliament. We also visited the Science Museum, Natural History Museum and Churchill Museum to witness first hand the impact facilities can have on the enjoyment of visitors and their flow through the building.[65] The museums were refreshingly honest on the pitfalls they had encountered in their own visitor facilities: this approach has been invaluable to our deliberations.

74. The British Museum, Science Museum, Churchill Museum and Natural History Museum all agreed that, in addition to flexible learning areas, the practical elements listed in the following table were essential for school groups:Table 4: Practical elements necessary for school groups

A groups' reception area - where groups could debrief and prepare for the main programme of the visit. The Churchill Museum and Science Museum have a separate entrance for schools and groups, but the Natural History Museum and British Museum do not.

An area where school groups could eat lunch.

Induction loops for hearing impaired participants in organised activities,[66] and all areas, texts and displays should be accessible and comprehensible to wheelchair users, the visually impaired and people with learning difficulties.[67]

Somewhere to store props and equipment. Unlike the other museums, the Churchill Museum did not have a cloakroom but had not found it to be an issue.[68]

Toilets.

Café (Parliament already provides the Jubilee Café off Westminster Hall.)

75. We heard different views as to the need for a dedicated lunch area. Heather Mayfield of the Science Museum told us:

But Phil Reed, Director of the Churchill Museum advised that:

76. As regards elements that had not been judged a success by the Museums, Richard Woff, Head of Schools and Young Audiences at the British Museum, told us that:

i. A large inflexible lecture auditorium was not used as much as expected;

ii. Heavy furniture in classrooms had proved difficult to rearrange, and

iii. A dedicated ICT teaching space was not as useful as the flexible use of ICT across all the spaces would have been.[71]

77. The Natural History and Science Museums agreed that Parliament needed to have a clear understanding of the purpose for which it would provide facilities and what it would focus on before it could begin to plan what facilities it would provide.[72]

SUGGESTIONS FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY EDUCATION SERVICE

78. The Education Service told us that, ideally, it would like to have the following facilities:

a dedicated soundproofed space in which children would be able to participate in creative activities without worrying about whether they were making a mess or disturbing those in neighbouring rooms.

The Service would like to make use of objects from the archives or create mini-displays and exhibitions within the classrooms.

Equipment such as interactive white boards or audio-visual equipment would provide a more interesting teaching experience. (A Member has also suggested there should be mock polling booths to enable children to see what voting is like.[73])
Easily accessible video-conferencing equipment compatible with that provided in schools and colleges would enable outreach to schools unable to visit Westminster.
Sensory activities could be provided for special needs groups which are currently not specifically catered for.

79. Providing the Education Service with a flexible suite of rooms would enable groups to break up into smaller units, but also allow larger groups from schools to be accommodated. The Education Service said that some schools, in particular primary schools and sixth form classes, prefer to visit in year groups in order to avoid having to leave parts of classes behind or to arrange temporary teachers to cover classes. Schools' preferences could be more effectively accommodated by providing a larger dedicated space. The Education Service would be able to offer a wider variety of activities, tailored to specific age groups and themes—and all with direct links back to the national curriculum being taught in the classroom.

80. A dedicated space would provide the opportunity for the Education Service to offer a service to educational providers such as teacher training groups and university groups at times when the facilities are not being used by schools. By offering teachers face-to-face information on Parliament that is relevant to the citizenship curriculum, the Education Service is more likely to make schools aware of the facilities that are available both online and at Westminster.

81. The Education Service would also like to involve organisations outside of formal education in partnerships in order to reach as many young people as possible. For example, youth groups, the Princes Trust, the UK Youth Parliament, British Youth Council and Operation Black Vote are just a few organisations that the Education Service would like to invite to participate more in activities such as workshops and seminars, but at the moment it is difficult for the Service to arrange these kind of activities on a regular basis due to a lack of suitable learning accommodation. Focussing on educational or youth groups, with similar expectations and needs to that of schools, would enable the Education Service to make maximum use of its facilities without having to clear down displays or exhibits created by school children.

82. Members and their staff currently spend a significant amount of time arranging tours for schools and other groups.[74] Providing the Education Service with more resource could enable it to assist Members more in the organisation of activities for schools in and outside of Westminster. Greater access to dedicated educational facilities through the Service would provide Members and their visiting school groups, with a more professional and enjoyable experience.

Options for the future of education provision at Parliament

83. The Education Service has provided us with an options paper which illustrates the capacity of its current activities and how they could be increased should additional space be found for the Service. This options paper is appended to our report.[75]

84. The five options are shown below in the following table:Table 5: Five options for education provision

Option A To keep the status quo - the Education Service would retain the use of the Macmillan Room and Room A in 1 Parliament Street (a total space of about 150m²) and would only be able to increase its capacity to a maximum of 28,000 school children a year.

Option B To find a dedicated space for the Education Service within the current scale of provision - the Education Service would be provided with space similar in proportion to the rooms currently used by it, but the space would be dedicated for Education use only. Good access to nearby toilets and storage would be provided. The Education Service would not be able to increase its capacity beyond 28,000.

Option C More space for the Education Service - a dedicated space of approximately 1,000m² on or off the estate would be provided which would consist of a flexible suite of rooms to include classrooms and ancillary spaces for a lunch area, storage and cloakrooms. It would be possible to accommodate whole year groups and could also be used by others outside of school term times such as adult learners, families and teacher training. The Education Service estimates that they would be able to increase capacity to around 100,000 learners.

Option D A new-build Education Centre - an option included in the feasibility report prepared for the Committee by the PVIC Stakeholder Group. A new centre containing 2,300m² of space would provide a reception area, multi-functional classrooms, a small exhibition area, staff areas, lunch areas, toilets, locker spaces and storage. The space would be used by other groups outside of school term time and would accommodate up to 100,000 learners a year.

Option E A Full Parliamentary Visitor and Information Centre — an option included in the feasibility report prepared for the Committee by the PVIC Stakeholder Group. A new centre containing 5,660m² of space would provide a dedicated space for all visitors to Parliament and would include a reception area, shop, café, exhibition areas, multi-functional classrooms, staff areas, lunch areas, toilets, locker spaces and storage. The space would be used by other groups outside of school term time and would accommodate up to 100,000 learners a year.

85. As previously discussed in paragraphs 43 and 44, and 45 to 47 respectively, we consider that Option A, the "do nothing option", and options D and E for a new building to house an Education centre are not the best options for Parliament. We consider that option B of providing the Education Service with dedicated accommodation similar to the space it currently occupies would be short-sighted and not allow for the Education Service to develop its activities and programmes to reach out beyond school groups from the areas closest to London. We do not consider that the request for more learning space is over ambitious in view of the current demand for the Education Service's services and the planned programmes of outreach. We agree that the facilities as described in paragraphs 74 and 78 would provide an educational space that would go further to meet the needs of students, teachers and Members than the current allocation of space.

86. Providing the Education Service with a dedicated space would also have the benefit of freeing up the space they currently use during the day to provide more meeting room space for other users, Members in particular.

87. Based on the evidence to us from London Museums and on our discussions with the Education Service and the Central Tours Office, it is apparent that our current provision for educational visitors is impractical and uncomfortable for both staff and visitors. A real improvement in the experience of learners could be made by the provision of dedicated space. It would signal that Parliament has a real commitment towards engagement with the public.

88. If a dedicated space is to be provided, advantage should also be taken of the opportunity to expand significantly Parliament's capacity to welcome educational visitors.

89. Accordingly we recommend that a dedicated space for school visitors of approximately 1,000m² (consisting of flexible accommodation of five classrooms with ancillary space for storage, toilet facilities, a lunch area and locker space) should be sought either on or off the existing Estate—the exact space depending on what becomes available and at what cost. We understand that the House of Lords Information Committee supports this recommendation.[76]

90. As we noted in our Report on House of Commons Accommodation, it is a reality that space on the existing Estate is already under pressure.[77] The previous Committees' Report on visitor facilities found that there was not enough available space within the existing Parliamentary Estate to create a visitor centre. We accept that in order to provide a dedicated space for the Education Centre either certain offices on the existing Estate will need to be displaced into new accommodation and the space reconfigured, or new accommodation will have to be acquired. There will be costs associated with both options.

91. We recommend that identifying a suitable space for the Education Service should be included within the 25 year Estates strategy, as part of the accommodation strategy. We recommended the development of this strategy in our Report on House of Commons Accommodation, to manage and identify accommodation priorities on the Parliamentary Estate. Providing dedicated facilities for school parties should be a high priority but must not impact adversely on the needs of Members for adequate office accommodation within the Parliamentary Estate.

92. A dedicated space for education in Parliament would provide a facility for Members of the House of Commons to develop the link between Parliament and their constituents. It would need to develop as a resource available to Members and their staff to interact with school groups and other learners, to communicate the work and role of Parliament.

OTHER CHANGES THAT COULD BE MADE TO EXISTING SERVICES

Members' Tours

93. The Education Service have told us that only two Members' tours a day are led by Visitor Assistants who have been curriculum trained. Both the Education Service and the Central Tours Office recognise that a change in style of tours for schools, together with the training of guides, is necessary if Members' tours for school groups are to be more education-specific. We understand that in the case of approximately 30% of Members' tours, the Tours Office is not warned in advance of the type of group that is visiting Parliament.[78] This makes it difficult for the Tours Office to prepare an appropriate tour programme in advance. We recommend that the Parliamentary Education Service and the Central Tours Office should develop specifically tailored Members' Tours for schools and that more guides should be curriculum trained to ensure school children gain the most benefit from their visit to Parliament. Five times as many children participate in tours as are able to participate in a Parliamentary Education Service programme. Tailored tours are an ideal opportunity for Parliament to engage with school children and increase their awareness of its work. These tours could be implemented quickly, in advance of any dedicated accommodation being found for the Education Service.

94. Members are reminded that they should give advance warning that their tour group consists of school children in order to enable the Central Tours Office to provide a tour that has a specific link to the relevant curriculum and that is pitched at the right level.

Subsidies for travel costs

95. Evidence to us from the Education Service and schools tells us that the time and cost of travel to London are disincentives to schools visiting from further away. Schools booking the programmes run by the Education Service are predominantly from London and the South East of England. The Education Service last analysed its bookings in 2003/04 when 61 per cent of 338 schools that visited as part of the educational programme were from London and the South East regions and 39 per cent were from the other regions combined. Philip Ginnings, Head of History and Politics at Ounsdale High School, Staffordshire, a customer of the Parliamentary Education Service, told us that:

96. Although some schools in the United Kingdom will always be put off from travelling to London by the distance and time involved in the journey, some are discouraged from visiting by the cost of the journey alone. Several Members have suggested to us that funding should be found to provide subsidies to encourage schools to visit Westminster:

97. The Australian Parliament, European Parliament, the Norwegian Parliament, the German Bundestag and the National Assembly for Wales have schemes to subsidise the costs of travel for visits booked by their visitor services (see Annex 2). The Norwegian Parliament and Welsh Assembly subsidies are for visits from school children only. The subsidies are aimed particularly at encouraging visits from areas furthest away from the Parliament or Assembly where the cost of travel is a disincentive. We understand that in some cases, the subsidies are linked to the completion of certain educational activities to ensure that those visiting the Parliament get the most from their experience.

98. Facilities that are offered at Westminster should be made as accessible as possible to schools from all over the United Kingdom.

99. We recommend that the Finance and Services Committee and House of Commons Commission, working closely with the appropriate bodies in the House of Lords, should consider the case for subsidising school visits to Westminster from more remote constituencies alongside the proposals to provide dedicated facilities for the Parliamentary Education Service. We believe that subsidies should be linked to learning requirements to ensure that the Education Service is able to monitor the effectiveness of their teaching programmes.

Contacts beyond Westminster

100. The Education Service is in the process of developing links through its outreach officers with Local Education Authorities and schools.[82] As noted in Table Two, two of the Service's staff have already started the process of visiting schools and colleges across the United Kingdom. A dedicated space for the Education Service could also be a physical base for the outreach team. The team would be able to follow up their visits with conferences and seminars held at Westminster for teachers and educational groups. In 2006, the Group on Information for the Public commissioned the Hansard Society to evaluate different options for outreach.[83] The Report recommended that Parliament should invest in regional outreach officers— initially on a pilot basis — to deliver outreach programmes in existing local settings. We recommend that the Group on Information for the Public should develop concrete costed proposals for a pilot scheme of regional outreach officers for consideration by the relevant committees before the Summer Recess 2007.

101. In addition, video conferencing is currently undertaken from a temporary location in Portcullis House. The equipment is intended specifically for Members' use; it has recently been upgraded but is stored in a meeting room and is difficult to book for educational use. A dedicated space could enable more convenient access to video equipment for the Education Service and encourage a greater take up of video conferencing with schools unable to visit.

102. As mentioned in Table 2, paragraph 26, a general review is being undertaken of information leaflets and publications provided by Parliament. As part of this review, the Education Service is in the process of assessing the literature that it provides schools online to make it more useful and more relevant to the national curriculum so that teachers are able to use it in the classroom.

103. The Hansard Society told us that Parliament could do more to raise awareness amongst groups which have been identified as particularly disengaged from Parliament. The Society suggested Parliament tap "into the networks and associations that Parliament's target groups are involved in—such as by contacting temples or mosques or youth groups". The Society also suggested that creating a "young persons consultative group" on any planned changes to Parliament's visitor facilities would help ensure those changes were geared towards the concerns and interests of young people.[84]

104. Members of the House of Commons are well placed to contact schools in their constituencies, and Members of both Houses are likely to have useful contacts with local interest groups outside of formal education that Parliament might otherwise be unable to reach. One Member of the House of Lords has suggested that improvements in Parliament's visitor facilities "should be publicised in ethnic media. Some of us can contribute towards this."[85]

105. We recommend that improved education facilities at Westminster should be complemented by use of the website and development of links with groups that have been identified as particularly disengaged from Parliament. This will ensure that members of these groups as well as schools are able to benefit from the resources available at Westminster and engage with Parliament whether or not they are able to visit.

62 Figures provided by the Parliamentary Education Service. Back

63 See above, Table Two. Back

64 Ev 137 Back

65 Members of the House of Lords also visited the Globe Theatre and reported back to us on what they had seen. Back

66 Ev 1 Back

67 Ev 23 Back

68 Ev 24 Back

69 Q 8 [Heather Mayfield] Back

70 Ev 23 Back

71 Ev 2 Back

72 Q 9, Ev 21 [Heather Mayfield; Honor Gay, Natural History Museum] Back

73 Ev 130 [Mary Creagh MP] Back