Inspired Learning Spaces

Provocation: If you believe that every space is an extension of our sensory learning experiences, then what goes in to the space is essential.

As we design our learning spaces in preparation for the beginning of the school year, we give consideration to creating environments that:

• promote relationships amongst children;
• promote explorations;
• promote the possibility to learn in groups;
• promote independence;
• make materials visible and readily available for children to use;
• incorporate unexpected surprises;
• offer a dialogue between indoor and outdoor spaces;
• create many places within spaces – small places that belong to big spaces;
• highlight the value of children making their own choices about what they want to learn.

Our learning environments are not places where children come to be taught; they are spaces where children create their own culture, as learners. A space where they can take risks as scientists, historians, writers, adventurers, artists, inventors and designers. An environment where they can follow their own unique rhythms of growth and development.

The first steps of our learning journey began by reflecting on the learning environments we offered our children. The way desks and seating are grouped in the space say something about how we belong to and interact within a space. Desks placed in rows say something. Desks grouped together also say something, they say “we can learn together”.

We inquired, we decluttered and we were inspired.

We are intentional in the way we design our spaces because we understand that the organisation of the learning environment can welcome children and families in the same way it can alienate them. We aim to minimise visual noise and design aesthetically pleasing environments. If the environment gives pleasure and joy it will inspire learning. We give consideration to our outdoor environments in the same way and look for opportunities to connect the indoors and the outdoors.

When we began our journey, educators were challenged by educational consultant Lisa Burman to change one thing within their learning space. They looked at their classrooms through the eyes of their children in order to identify how they could declutter and remove the visual noise from the space.

The beginning of a school year provides the opportunity to remove everything from the space and start afresh; to design an environment that will inspire children, welcome families and enrich the learning experiences that will invite children’s curiosity. And sometimes it is what you don’t put in that has the biggest impact.