Phillip Lee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phillip Lee on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effects of open-plan teaching facilities on pupils’ learning; and what provision is available to assist schools with conversion of facilities from an open-plan layout where that layout is shown to be having a detrimental effect on learning.

Edward Timpson

The Department has not made any formal assessment of the overall effects of open-plan teaching facilities on pupil’s learning.

On 9 February 2015 the government announced £4.2bn of allocations to schools, local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary aided partners to fund the improvement and maintenance of our schools. This includes £1.4bn in 2015-16.

While we would expect this money to be spent first on making sure that existing school buildings are in good condition, it is for these bodies to decide how to prioritise the funding, according to local needs.

In 2015-16, the Department spent £8 million on improvements to large open teaching areas in academies which had been built under the Building Schools for the Future programme, where independent evidence suggested this was having a detrimental effect on good teaching and learning.