The national strategic body for design has been closely involved with the inquiry from the outset, advocating a design phase involving all the users at the early stages of the government’s Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF). This emerged as one of the clearest findings of the Committee, that more involvement from teachers, other school staff and pupils is needed in the planning stage, and that they should be given sufficient time to discuss ideas for their new school.
Design Council Chief Executive David Kester, who gave evidence to the Education and Skills Committee, stressed that if BSF is to achieve its goal to provide educational transformation that goes beyond bricks and mortar, then further reform of the procurement process is still required.
He also called for more support from government to help head teachers develop an understanding of the design process in order to be ‘good clients’ for all BSF projects as recommended in the Committee’s report.
Kester commented: ‘Building Schools for the Future is the biggest capital programme in education since the Victorian and post-war building waves and we need to get it right. That is why a much more vigorous creative process is required at the early stages of new building projects involving communities, technology partners and others in the education supply chain. ‘
I am delighted that the Select Committee has endorsed our views that if we want innovation and creativity to happen in education we need to make sure that all involved are equipped to do it. However, the government needs to provide more support to educate clients - primarily head teachers - to get the most from the-once- in-a-life time opportunity to redesign a school.”
For more information please contact Jenny Owen at the Design Council on 020 7420 5240, jenny.owen@designcouncil.org.uk
1. The Design Council is the UK’s national strategic body for design. It aims to strengthen and support the economy and society by demonstrating and promoting the vital role of design in making businesses more competitive and public services more effective. www.designcouncil.org.uk
2. The Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme is a hugely ambitious project to rebuild or refurbish all the secondary schools in England over a fifteen year period at a cost of around £45 billion. It has been explicitly designed to transform the educational experiences of pupils, and to embed sustainability.
3. The report, Sustainable Schools: Are we building schools for the future? reviewed the progress of the BSF programme. The main findings included:
- Time to plan –the initial ‘visioning’ phase should be lengthened
- Educational transformation - a clear statement of the national ambitions for 21st century education
- Future proofing – ensuring BSF projects are completed with an eye to future needs and developments in education
- Accountability framework
- Sustainability – To address the issue of schools’ carbon emissions
- Is BFS the best way to spent £45 billion on education?
- How will we know if BSF has been a success?