The blame for the change in building design within Australian schools stretches back almost 50 years – a flow-on effect of the team teaching trend that was initially explored in American schools in the mid-1950s and became recognised as best practice in many schools around the world by the 1990s.
Along the way, open-plan classrooms – large spaces intended to combine multiple classes, supervised by multiple teachers, within one room – have continued to proliferate.
But no more – at least not in New South Wales (NSW) public schools.
Thanks to complaints from students, parents and teachers, the construction of open-plan classrooms in public schools across NSW will stop.
It’s a decision that many educators and families see as long overdue and one that follows a parliamentary inquiry undertaken in late 2022.
A University of Melbourne study published earlier this year revealed that, due to higher noise levels that lead to difficulties with focus, many children in open-plan classrooms have slower reading development and spend more time disengaged from educational activities.
In May this year, the NSW Department of Education wrote to the NSW Teachers Federation, explaining the classrooms would no longer be built.
“Current and future new and upgraded school projects will not include the construction of open-plan classrooms that cannot function as an individual space for a single class group,” the letter stated.
It’s a clear flip from previous design-related decision-making that had seen many of the state’s new public schools built to include“modern and flexible spaces” and classrooms, with the ability to combine up to four classes in one open room with moveable walls and “no distinct front of classroom”.
Complaints about difficulties learning were common
NSW Teachers Federation vice president Henry Rajendra said complaints about the unsuitability of these open-plan classrooms had been happening since around 2018.
“We had a lot of complaints from teachers and parents and students that it was a very difficult environment to learn,” Mr Rajendra said.
Calling the open-plan rooms “flexible learning spaces” was, Mr Rajendra said, a misnomer. By leaving the layout of schools to architects, rather than teachers, he described the results as “a 40-year old fad” that was presented as something innovative.
A Department of Education spokeswoman told media that she could not say how many open-plan classrooms had been built over the past decade, but work was being done to identify them in schools.
“The department is identifying the number of schools with open-plan classrooms,” the spokeswoman said. “If schools have concerns that these spaces are impacting student learning, the department will work with each school.”
