Contemporary learning environment designs bring to life schools featuring loose fitting, flexible layouts that upset the stable certainty of the four-walled classroom. This article presents the argument that adopting a theoretical approach to researching the role of spatiality and space in relation to innovative building design in education will…

This article synthesises longitudinal deliberations between two architects and an educator, seeking common ground about learning spaces in schools. As the impetus for new and refurbished school buildings continues in New Zealand, it is timely to unpack instinctual disciplinary practices to better understand space and place in schools. We undertook…

Traditional sole-teacher classrooms are being replaced by large, open, flexible learning environments in New Zealand schools. Teacher collaboration within these shared teaching and learning spaces raises important questions about curriculum organisation in secondary-school settings. If secondary teachers are to work collaboratively in shared…

This article explores the characteristics of a successful transition of a school from traditional classrooms to an innovative learning environment. Many schools today are converting traditional classrooms into spaces which are flexible, supporting a wide array of teaching and learning possibilities (i.e. an 'innovative learning environment').…

Institutions may invest heavily into building and equipping new learning teaching spaces with the intention of encouraging active and collaborative learning to occur. However, there may not be a concomitant shift in teachers' existing pedagogical practices. This qualitative study examined the perspectives of thirty-two tertiary teachers across a…

In Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, the impetus to create open learning spaces that afford spatial and pedagogical flexibility have disrupted the nature of teachers' work. In redesigned education facilities, teachers engage in sophisticated processes of collaboration and ongoing teacher professional learning. Moving from traditional classroom…

This article examines Innovative Learning Environments (ILE's) in terms of its promise to deliver an inclusive environment. While ILE's underpinning philosophy is to be inclusive for all, it appears that inclusion serves the needs of a wider mainstream audience. The article considers the research in this area critically, with a focus on the…

The New Zealand Ministry of Education encourages schools to update to flexible learning spaces and activate teaching approaches that augment such physical settings. Many schools have embraced the concept of innovative learning environments (ILE) and team teaching, motivating a trend fast gaining popularity in New Zealand primary schools. However,…

This exploratory case study, arising from a longitudinal project into the establishment of a new secondary school in New Zealand, examines reflective practice through critical friend roles among staff. The paper describes, through the lens of Bourdieu's logic of practice, the implementation of a critical friendship approach linked to the school…

This study investigated computer laboratories in New Zealand schools. A questionnaire was used to obtain information in four areas: (1) demographic data, including the name of the school, class levels, governing authority, gender composition, roll size, staffing, and socio-economic ranking; (2) qualitative and quantitative data about the school's…