Classrooms of the Future
The Classrooms of the Future initiative started out with the aim of challenging current thinking on school building design. Raising educational standards is one of the government's top priorities, and this is reflected in the huge increases in capital investment in schools taking place. To ensure this is put to best use, we needed to test out new ideas and construct a vision of how schools should be designed in the future.
Twelve local education authorities are sharing nearly £13 million to develop around 30 pilot projects. These are a response to our collective ideas on what the major design drivers for school buildings are likely to be (see design drivers). They focus on the creation of innovative learning environments that are imaginative and stimulating, with the aim of inspiring children to achieve more. They are also designed for wider community use, and will have links with other schools and learning centres in this country and abroad. The lessons learned from the pilots will be absorbed into new design guidance and will help to shape the design of schools thereafter.
To find out more about how the projects are progressing, click here. For details of Teaching Environments for the Future (TEF) – the sequel to Classrooms of the Future – click here. To view a pdf version of illustrated profiles of the projects, published in February 2003, click here.
The Classrooms of the Future initiative is one of the DfES
Ministerial Design Champion's sponsored projects.
