Open plan classes a hit in Takaka
One Golden Bay school is embracing change as it knocks down walls and moves kids into outdoor classrooms to light fires, tie knots, build tree huts and chop wood.
Takaka Primary School is one of numerous schools around the country moving towards a modernised open-plan learning space where students have more flexibility to choose.
Some classes are now held in outdoor ‘‘makerspaces’’ where the pupils learn through using their bodies.
Principal Jenny Bennett said she had asked students, parents and the community about what they wanted more of at school since she first started two years ago.
‘‘The kids all said: more art, more hands-on, able to work with a range of different teachers, and they wanted to be outside more,’’ she said.
As a result, Bennett knocked down walls in the senior block to create an open-plan classroom with spaces divided into casual seating, some desks, and some segregated quieter areas.
The 90 senior students selfselect their own workshops, and to differing degrees choose with whom, when, where and how they learn.
There would still be an expectation to achieve national standards, but the idea was to allow the kids to have a voice and enhance their natural curiosity.
‘‘There’s been a lot more research in the last 20 to 30 years that has taken a while to come to the surface, that actually says when children are given more choice it inspires their intrinsic motivation to learn.
‘‘But by the same measure, kids don’t know what they don’t know, so the adults’ job is to frame it and that’s where the collaborative curriculum comes in.’’
She acknowledged the transition would likely require extra work for staff as they undergo the changes, but was positive about the end result.
Teacher Renford Crump said typical classroom-based learning focused largely on the intellect.
‘‘In contrast, kids come [to the makerspace] to experience their bodies and learn through doing and knowing. It’s a more holistic approach,’’ he said.
‘‘There’s some kids who are really hard to manage in the classroom. Some have problems with anger and would hit other children, and when I give them a big sharp tool, they calm right down.’’
A group of Golden Bay residents from the Kahurangi Education Trust, who unsuccessfully tried to start a democratic school in Golden Bay, said they were happy about the changes at the Takaka school.