Last week, Education Minister, Erica Stanford, announced that the construction of open-plan classrooms would be halted.

The National Party had previously petitioned for the classroom design in 2011, with the idea of pushing for flexibility in the way students were taught, and to accommodate a shift in how technology is used in educational spaces.

However, the classroom design has received a mixture of responses. 

Some say the classroom design resulted in a noisy and distracting environment.  Despite this,  surveys by the Council for Educational Research showed that most teachers liked open-plan classrooms, adding that students benefitted from the classroom design.

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Blair Dravitski about the government’s move regarding open-plan classrooms.

Dravitski is a spokesperson on the topic for the New Zealand Principals’ Federation, and Tumuaki/Principal of Te Uru Tarata | Lemonwood Grove School in Rolleston.