●‘My’ Oh ‘My’- Whose Learning Environment?

Perhaps everyone remembers the interview for their first job. I certainly remember mine from 1988. A formidable primary adviser of the time asked me how I would set up my classroom.  I realise now that she suspected that as a student teacher, I had only ever taught in classrooms set up by others.  She was keen to see what type of learning environment I would establish.

The reason the memory remains so vivid is that my response included the fact that I would have a teacher’s desk.  It was as if I lit her fuse!  I quickly learned that she hated teachers’ desks, particularly those that dominated the children’s learning environment. Whilst I recovered and got the job, I never had a teacher’s desk in any of the classrooms in which I worked, opting for workstations of varying sorts.

Its not of course all about the desk. Its about the attitude that it signals. Teachers that refer to ‘my classroom’ send similar signals.  Whilst less fanatical than that formidable primary adviser, I have always raised an eyebrow when a teacher claims the classroom as their own and underlines that by dominating it with a strategically placed desk.

The classroom does not belong to the teacher.  It is the room allocated to them.  It is the space in which they are expected to develop a dynamic, stimulating, interactive learning environment in which learners are supported and flourish. It is the learners’ classroom that they share with the teacher. It is for the teacher to be agile and creative in arranging furniture and resources to promote learning, adapting the room for the task in hand.  The room should look different for a drama session, for a debate, for group tasks, for individual work, and so on. It is not for pupils to work around the teacher and his/her belongings, existing peripherally and dancing to his/her mood music.

My other metaphoric eyebrow raises when I hear a headteacher talk about ‘my school’. Its not their school.  The building is owned by the local authority or private company.  The community, parents, society all have claims on the school.  It’s the pupils school too!  Whilst I do accept that its important not to be pedantic over the language, it does often signal an ego that is a barrier to engaging with others to provide a learning environment and service that translates a shared vision into practice. A practice that is genuinely inclusive and appropriate to the needs of all learners and stakeholders.

When you give your all to a school and many hours of your waking day are filled by thinking/worrying about it, I understand that you become totally invested and that the use of the word ‘my’ is often related to this commitment more than ego. However, caution is advised.  Replacing ‘my’ with ‘ours’ might just help. ‘Our school’ and ‘our classroom’ has a different feel and might just influence the practice within.

The best way to judge the success of a classroom is to observe the learners use it and measure the rate of the progress they make.  However, a classroom empty of learners can give an insight into the practice that takes place within. When I visit a school and glimpse learning environments, these are some of the things I note, almost subconsciously:

• Furniture is kept to a minimum and what is there has purpose and can be configurated in different ways.
• Resources are accessible to learners and appropriate for their age/ability.
• Extension/enrichment tasks are available for the more able, facilitating the extension of their learning into a new context.
• Support for the less able is woven into displays. Specific resources are provided.
• Pupils’ work is valued and when it is displayed it is done so with purpose e.g. to emphasise teaching points.
• Languages that the pupils are learning are evident in displays and include relevant language patterns, not simply vocabulary. Games and books provide learners with the opportunity to practice what they have learned in a new context.
• Adaptations are made for additional needs e.g. equipment and seating position for those with hearing or visual impairment or displays paired back for those learners with autism. Workstations established for individual work, reducing stimulation, and providing scaffolds and resources within the safe space to allow learning to continue without raising anxiety.
• Provision is made for learners with adverse childhood experiences, ACEs. Such provision could include calm corners, calm boxes and a variety of seating options including sofas and bean bags.
• A range of technology is evident and clearly used with purpose within relevant contexts. It adds to the learners’ experience. Its not there for its own sake or just to impress.
• Activities are set up that allow learners to use numeracy and literacy skills in a meaningful way within relevant contexts that they find engaging.
• The environment appears safe, for example there are no tripping hazards, doors are not blocked, fire procedures are clear.
• The schools vision/mission statement is displayed so that it can be used as a reference point to reinforce expected values and behaviours.
• Whole school systems for areas ranging from assessment for learning to behaviour management are present and consistency evident.

I hope that all these years later I would be better able to answer the interview question. I am not convinced that I have covered everything, so am open to suggestions of things to add to the list. I consider it highly unlikely however that I will be adding a teacher’s desk!