NSW schools on the brink of an overcrowding crisis due to a shortage of classrooms.
According to the Department of Education, NSW has an impending shortfall of $7 billion for educational infrastructures over the next two decades. WIth some estimating that NSW will need NSW needs 385 new classrooms every year for a decade. An Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) report says as the population of primary students increases dramatically over the next 10 years, schools will need significantly more classrooms and resources and new schools will need to be built in “outer metropolitan growth corridors”.
But despite the best planning the budget and building for additional schools often lags behind the need, which puts greater pressure, and more students, on existing schools.
As a result, many schools are finding themselves short, and in need of a flexible way to use their existing space as new permanent facilities are brewing. And it’s not just government schools that are slow to catch up, private schools are also feeling the pinch.
Teachers and parents are increasingly worried as crammed classrooms can do significant damage to a child’s education as tensions reach a boiling point.
A Flexible Solution
Caught between an increasing student population and a lack of adequate funds or time for capital expansion, some schools have already thought of a clever and innovative solutions to deal with the influx, taking the initiative to face the problem head-on with the limited resources they currently have.
We are talking about using movable walls and portable room dividers to create flexible learning spaces. By using mobile room dividers, these schools have been able to use existing spaces for multiple learning uses. Whera’s before the space would only accommodate one learning activity at a time, these schools are able to create multiple learning areas from the one large space.
The ability to create flexible learning spaces is in concert with the modern way of flexible teaching. Why continue to create restricting classroom enviromnents, and instead use large group areas with the flexibility to change with each lesson if need be.
Mobile room dividers were generally used as partitions to subdivide classrooms to create new activity areas. They can create instant classrooms in a jiffy, can remodel an ignored space and give it purpose and character, and can even be used to cover up clutter. Best of all, mobile room dividers can be used as movable wall art displays, which is a hit among teachers and students alike.
