travelling off-site

Walker is surrounded by facilities and businesses that benefit learning, but what about the impact on the timetable and travel?

Vocational learning is becoming increasingly popular, but attending a class off the school campus can mean lots of planning and paperwork, and a half day round trip for students and staff with time wasted travelling between A and B.

With an opportunity to spend money on a new building comes the need to create some principles around how vocational learning should happen in the future and the systems and resources needed to provide a range of vocational options sustainably...

Problems

• Too much time is being wasted travelling from A to B

• Too much time is being spent managing off site events, doing paperwork and organising transport

Causes

• There is a renewed emphasis in education on vocational learning and professional experience

• Facilities are located offsite and some distance from the school

• regulations require schools to carry out certain procedures to ensure the safety of students when they are out of school

Objectives

• To look at how the system of providing vocational learning and professional experience off-site could be improved for staff and students

• To help Mr Collier and staff to develop a vision for vocational provision as part of the brief to the architect and the local authority

Who should be involved

• Mr Collier
• Mr Smith
• Other vocational teaching staff
• Some students who regularly travel off site
• And as many other people as possible

Evaluation of the brief

This brief offers opportunities to work with some of the school's partner organisations. It also offers a chance to solve some immediate practical problems as a way of informing the thinking about future vocational provision at Walker. There are already plans to create a new building at the centre of the school site dedicated to vocational learning. This design brief provides an opportunity to think about what could go on in this space - perhaps working with staff to design the vocational experience of the block.

One question that's raised by the opportunity to build a dedicated block is how to ensure that it can adapt to changing needs. Will students still want to work in a hair salon in 5 of 10 years time? How could this vocational centre continue to reflect the requirements of students and the job market? Can future vocational needs be anticipated now so that we can design in the means to offer it in the future? What is the vocational learning vision and what are the principles that will support the design and development of this facility?


Posted by engine on 02/01