Learnings through explorations of the teaching space: Creating climates of collaboration

Abstract

Beanbags, adjustable tables, retractable walls, high-speed internet and numerous digital devices dominate the current concept of the modern classroom. Urged by the Ministry of Education in New Zealand to build all new classrooms as Innovative Learning Environments (Ministry of Education, 2015), more and more students are finding themselves operating in spaces of various shapes and sizes. Influenced by the PST framework by Radcliffe et al. (2008), these environments tend to focus on creating a balance between the elements of pedagogy, technology and space. While the jury is still out on the benefit of the ILE spaces, there has been universal agreement that education needed to rethink the outdated single cell design (Benade, 2016).