Too often young people feel they have no influence over where they live and learn. Why not provide them with more opportunities to debate and shape the buildings and places around them?
Bodmin College students visiting The Eden Project © Chriss Saville / APEX
Projects that get young people thinking about the future of their surroundings provide excellent opportunities for cross-curricular learning. Perhaps more importantly they develop a wide range of life skills, increase engagement with the community and equip young people for becoming active citizens who make a positive contribution to where they live.
We have collated a list of activities, organisations and resources that you can use to give your students opportunities to have a say in the future of where they live and learn.
Subjects: English, citizenship, art and design, design and technology.
Cross-curriculum dimensions: community participation, creativity and critical thinking, global dimension and sustainable development.
Initiatives: Learning Outside the Classroom, Every Child Matters (make a positive contribution, enjoy and achieve), PLTS (creative thinkers, team workers, effective participants).
Teaching activities
Dream big…
What is the ideal school of the future?
Create a quiet atmosphere in the classroom and ask the students to imagine that they are at school in 2030. What does the building look like? How have the grounds changed? What can they see, smell and hear? What do they learn? How do they learn? Where do they eat and relax?
Encourage the class to translate their visions into pictures and words. If your school is involved in the Building Schools for the Future programme, you could share the students’ ideas with some of the key people involved in the project.
For more ideas on how to run this activity, visit the website for Learning for sustainable cities.
Bristol Brunel Academy © Neil Phillips / Skanska
Make it real!
Most secondary schools in England will be rebuilt or refurbished within the next ten years as part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.
When it’s your turn, make sure your students have plenty of opportunities to contribute to the design process and shape the future of their school. Invite the architects to a school assembly and arrange for student “design advisors” to challenge them on the new building.
Take this opportunity to emphasise the importance of planning a more sustainable future. Encourage the students to think about how to make the building environmentally friendly, for example by using renewable energy, improving insulation and collecting rainwater for reuse.
Read how students at Sittingbourne Community College established a BSF design think tank to give them a say in plans for their new school.
Public image
Find out whether there are any public buildings in your area – such as libraries, hospitals or theatres – that are being refurbished. Get in touch with your local council or the people who manage the building to see if your class could get involved.
Make sure the students have a clear brief. If possible, provide opportunities for them to meet members of the project team, such as planners, designers and architects. Arrange for them to visit the site to assess why change is needed. Carry out research to find out the views of local people who use the building.
Ask the students to develop ideas for redesigning the building through sketches and models. Could they present their ideas to the project team? Could their models go on public display?
Read the Libraries by design case study to find out how sixth-formers and primary pupils worked together on a project to redesign local libraries.
Housing regeneration discussion, Northmoor, Manchester © Ian Finlay Architects
Class campaign
Local authorities are obliged to consult their communities on planning proposals. Contact your nearest planning department to find out what developments are in the offing. Are there any that may interest or affect your students?
Give your students opportunities to consider the planning issue from different perspectives. If possible, visit the site to evaluate the pros and cons of the proposal. Encourage them to think about the impact of traffic, noise, safety and visual impact. How will different groups of people be affected? Are there concerns about conservation? Arrange for a planning officer to talk to the class about the issues involved.
Organise a class debate about whether or not the planning application should be approved. Ask the students to respond to the planning department to with their views on the development.
Read how one student has made a real difference to his environment in The Big Town Plan.
Futuristic fun
Fifty years ago, the typical sci-fi vision of life in 2010 included robotic servants, flying cars and field trips to the Moon. Ask your students to develop a more realistic picture of how they might be living in, say, 2050?
Ask them to focus on housing and how it is likely to change. Will people still live in houses and flats? Will there be urban and rural homes? What technological advances will affect the way we live? Do they think environmental and economic factors are likely to have changed things?
Talk with the students about whether they think their current homes will still be standing in 40 years’ time. If not, what will have replaced them? Ask them to draw a plan of what they think their new home will look like.
Exploring my space, my base and my place looks at how the topic of housing can be made interesting and relevant to key stage 3 students.
Manchester Civil Justice Centre © David Millington Photography Ltd
Helpful organisations and venues
The Sorrell Foundation
The Sorrell Foundation works with BSF through its programme, Joinedupdesignforschools. Get in touch to see how it can help your students play an active role in what happens to their school.
Partnerships for Schools
Partnerships for Schools delivers the Building Schools for the Future programme. Visit their website for a wide range of information and case studies to share with your students.
Building Futures
The Building Futures group was set up to inspire, stimulate and facilitate discussion on the future of the built environment. Visit its website for ideas and resources to stimulate debate among your students, including booklets on the future design of schools and housing.
Beam
Beam is an architecture centre dedicated to the imaginative understanding and improvement of public buildings and spaces. Visit their website to find out about projects you could get involved in or get in touch to see how its education service might be able to help you.
Local councils
Contact your local council to find out how your students might contribute to consultations about planning proposals in your area. The Directgov website includes a listing of principal local councils throughout the UK.
Working on a town design at the Architecture Centre Bristol © Architecture Centre Bristol
Teaching resources
Teachernet: Building schools for the future
The teachernet website features a large section on every aspect of BSF. Visit the site to make sure you’ve got up-to-date information to share with your students.
Design engagement for school communities toolkit
The DESC toolkit produced by Kent Architecture Centre, is a set of 24 question cards, to help you and your students explore an existing building based on the DQIfS (Design Quality Indicators for Schools) framework.
Imagine school design database
The Imagine database captures the very best in school design practice from around the world. Use the images and information to encourage your students to think creatively about their own learning environment.
Future generator
This online interactive resource from the London Transport Museum allows students to explore a series of choices about how we may live and work in the future – and reveals the possible impact of the decisions your students make.
Google Earth
An invaluable resource that provides you with an overview of how your local area looks today. It can also help you to speculate about how it might change in the future. Visit the Google Earth website to download the software for free.
Go back to the St Pius X Catholic High School case study.
