Can you imagine a school of the future? Would students all have mobile devices to access learning anytime and anywhere on the wireless network? How about the fabric? Would there be more open space and less congestion in corridors?
Have a good think and you’ll appreciate the enormity of the challenge facing the pound;40 billion Building Schools for the Future programme. A Government that ditched Mike Tomlinson’s almost universally popular curriculum of the future is now designing schools for the future (ideally, which should have come first?). Cynics have already dubbed the scheme “building new old schools”, and there is concern that the architects and builders will sideline learning and creativity in their dash for the cash.
In this TES Online, our writers explore the scheme, the innovations that can already be found and the experiences of other countries (p10-21). One home-grown project that deserves serious attention is the Isle of Man’s 1 to 1 laptop scheme. The island’s decision to buck trends and use Apple in primary means that only two technicians are required to run 900 clients on 115 servers, 40 networks and 300 wireless access points. And the pupils and teachers have access to the last word in easy-to-use software for creativity.
