A “flagship” school for open-plan classrooms in Bay of Plenty was moving to ditch them even before the Government called time on the layouts.
Education Minister Erica Stanford announced last week that the Government would stop building “those barnyard-style open classrooms” after feedback from schools that the spaces were not meeting student needs.
Pāpāmoa College principal Iva Ropati said it was switching from open-plan learning spaces to single-cell classrooms after a trial showed “incredible” gains in NCEA results.
The school was built in 2011 and was considered a Ministry of Education “flagship” for modern teaching and learning.
“It was purpose-built with no walls to accommodate all learners sharing a single space without any physical separation,” Ropati said.
However, over the past two years, it had been doing “due diligence” and had trialled relocating senior students into smaller, temporary classrooms, among other changes.
“Our board considered the present environment as a significant barrier to the students’ educational achievement,” he said.
Using the more private learning spaces led to “an incredible improvement” in the students’ NCEA achievement rates.
“From 2020, Level 1 NCEA increased from 63.5% to 82.4%, Level 2 from 67.5% to 88.3% and Level 3 from 66.4% to 74.2%.”
The college was also seeing “much higher levels of student engagement” and overall enjoyment of teaching and learning.
“We are now proudly amongst other high-performing secondary schools in the Bay of Plenty.”
Ropati said work was due to start in Term 4 to reconfigure one classroom block, and the rest would follow over the next two years.
Costs were yet to be confirmed, but the school would use its government property funding allocation and board funding.
Meanwhile, one of Tauranga’s newest schools plans to stick with its current classroom designs.
Taumata School, a full primary in Pyes Pa, opened in 2019.
Principal Gen Fuller said returning to using more traditional spaces was “not a guarantee of success”.
The conversation about the two different approaches was “far more complex” than walls, sliders or classroom layout.
“Let’s not oversimplify education to architecture. The real game-changer is what happens within the space … not the space itself."
In her view, the “true levers of student achievement” were the quality of teaching, strong leadership, fidelity of practice, and meaningful partnerships with whānau.
Fuller said Taumata School had no plans to retrofit or convert learning spaces into single-cell classrooms.
“Our current design aligns with our pedagogical approach, and we remain confident it delivers strong outcomes for our learners.”
She said schools and their boards should not have to “absorb costs of policy shifts that lack robust consultation, evidence, or dedicated funding”.
Tauriko School principal Suzanne Billington said she did not believe an either-or approach was the answer.
“We have flexible spaces which allow our staff and students to utilise the best of both approaches as and when needed to benefit learning and cater for different students’ needs.
“The ability to use staffing innovatively in co-teaching spaces allows staff to better cater for the learning needs of all students. ”
Stanford said the Government knew the most important thing in a child’s education was the “quality of the teacher in front of them”.
“While some schools used their open-plan classrooms well, classrooms are intergenerational assets, so building them to be flexible and adaptable will ensure they will endure beyond the tenure of individual teachers and principals.”
She said the ministry was developing standard building layouts after considering New Zealand and overseas research on how different learning environments impacted student engagement, well-being and achievement.
This would support “a shift towards adaptable classroom designs that prioritise student needs and local context, over a one-size-fits-all, open-plan approach”.
The Government has established the NZ School Property Agency to manage the school property portfolio.
“Schools can expect improved project delivery and communication, better value for money, and increased transparency” around decision-making, Stanford said.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.