Of course, I agree with Deidre Butler and Bart Verswijvel the time runs so fast, there are new challenges. Once this world gets more competitive, we need to stimulate our students to get a wider point of view and perspective through the world. It’s essential the way they make critics towards some topic and analyze it carefully. 

We always keep in mind that the physical environment has a huge impact on the way learning activities are delivered and it also influences the outcomes for the students.

But I think that in Italy this process could be very slow, because , in my experience, I see teachers that reproduce lessons as they have had as students (the teacher speaks a lot and the students listen and repeat).

The spaces , as I said, have to be flexible in order what we have to do.

The risk, in my experience, is also that teachers change spaces but don’t change the way to teach !

On the other hand, in my other school I have a little classroom to carry out my lessons with small groups. It´s quite tiny but at least I have freedom to try, change and experiment more. I absolutely love that because when needed I can organize the space and activities in a way in which we can discuss ideas together, talk easily to each other and work in a collaboratively way. Obviously it also depends on the activities you are carrying out because sometimes you need a more traditional approach but anyway, the important thing from my own experience is that we need to try, see what works for you according to your own reality and try to find a balance between traditional and innovative methods. 

 

Preschool education has  traditionally differed from school education, focusing on the child’s personality and development. Thus, communication in a group could be the actual source for children’s learning in preschool. 

The organization of the classroom is a premise of collaborative practices change, i.e. the physical layout should allow the recovery and increase in communication and mutual aid. Thinking about the classroom organization we assume the existence of an organization of learning support resources other than the explicit teaching (simultaneously) who pass through organization of time, space and materials, in order to keep on learning activity all students taking into account their characteristics/interests/difficulties.

So, I can say that the great challenge that education faces today is somehow not to be focused on "teaching" but instead on creating effective conditions for students to learn.

Consider different ways of approach/practice may take longer but certainly there will be other results (and, particularly, social). It will be a challenge to promote ways and strategies to support students envisaging and analyzing the change of evaluation tools, classroom organization, curriculum timings privileging dynamics of involvement (all components of curriculum and at all levels of teaching) in the process of knowledge.

•they support Competence Based Learning

•Individual learning approach 

•in an Accessable, User centred, Flexible building

•Bridging gaps between the worlds of pupils and teachers

•Changes in organisation, spaces and didactical models  

•New models for ITT/CPD andleadership

However, we cannot rely only on the willingness of teachers to change. We need help: we need facilities, furniture, rooms, ICT (mainly hardware and a wide, safe and reliable Internet connection). Unfortunately, for some of us the situation hasn't changed much. Our classrooms are filled with 26-29 desks arranged in rows and can rely only on a single blackboard.

I dream of a day in which I will not be the one who has to leave the classroom at the end of the lesson. A day when I will have my own classroom, warm and welcoming, with a flexible arrangement of spaces, where my students will find computers or bring their own devices which will be connected to a safe and monitored school wi-fi system.

Am I dreaming too big? At the moment this is beyond my reach!

 organise their own learning, evaluate their own work, and to seek 

advice, information and support from the teacher when needed. And to achieve that classrooms must change.

The older the students are, the easier it would be to enhance student participation and collaboration to solve problems, and it should be one of the fundamental skills we would have to teach.

I read most of your reviews and I realized that some of us have the same problems (like Višnja from Serbia). Although in my school teachers have complete freedom to create classroom depending on the subject they are dealing with and the goals they want to achieve, unfortunately, only few of them use this option.   (They share a classroom with other teachers, a lesson lasts 45 minutes and they do not have the time to reorganize classroom.) However, there are developments! Internet is available, teachers can use computers, laptops, projectors, and students can BYOD.

 

I encourage my teachers to feel free in their classroom and create it at will!

But not only the contents and media through which the teaching takes place have changed - also the setting is to be taken into account. The old-style classrooms in which children look like workers from an early 20th Century factory workers do not apply anymore to our current lifestyle and its demands. The need to adapt the classroom to the new learning styles and methodologies has become mandatory: if we advocate for centering the teaching process on the students and grant them more autonomy and voice in class, the setting must help to achieve this goal, for example with a more suitable classroom setting to promote communication and eye-contact, like the u-shape arrangement. As Verswijvel states, together with the new methodologies these new classrooms with their furniture and technological appliances should promote lifelong learning not only for the students but also for us teachers.

Primary schools tend to use more collaborative strategies and provide more flexible classroom spaces. The roles of teachers and students should be redefined. Students should be taught how to become independent learners

ow how to take advantage of different mediums and technological advances.

lot in learning and teaching. Hope somebody will reconsider the number of students in a classroom for the learning improvement. There should be less pupils in a class not classes with 40 pupils or over. That's a big mistake. Interaction is important and the freedom of movement. When I think about the past I think about this:

-The traditional class setting may not be adequate.

The traditional one should not be the only way to organize the school environment. The physical environment, in fact, has a large impact on how the way in which the activities and learning proposals are made, and also affects the studenti.Un'impostazioneflessibile results of spaces and furnishings of a class is certainly much more valid as it offers the possibility of incorporating different cognitive styles. The flexibility is crucial with respect to the learning physical spaces

-Another parameter that influences a lot of learning is the role we give to students and teachers.

The students are just passive listeners in a lecture, or are actively involved in the construction of their knowledge? It is very important to evaluate this. And again: what is the role of technology in our teaching? We promote self-learning?

-The Disciplines should not have a rigid separation, as happens in real life, all things are connected by relationships, and relationships. We should prepararei our students to be lifelong learners.

- Roles can be changed: today, thanks to new technologies, teachers can communicate on their students in many different ways.

Schools and classes should provide conditions for pupils to facilitate the acquisition of 21st century skills

I think it is very useful to change the location of the benches of the class depending on the activities that we have to sviluppare.Non is very simple because we have limited space and large classes, so you have to gear up as best you can. Also, I use modern tools because they are useful and make the lessons more engaging and active