Innovative learning solutions in new communities: opportunities and challenges to teachers' conceptions of workspace

Abstract

This article explores the possibilities and opportunities created by large-scale property developers for new ways of learning and working in master-planned communities. The discussion is based on the findings from research of one developer's innovative solutions to learning in newly developed communities and specifically draws on data from one case study from Australia. The research shows the vision and support provided by the developer for the emerging community and the issues that arise when teachers, pupils and parents are invited to be part of a new conception of schooling. The challenge of two schools sharing teaching and staffroom space impacts on teachers' understandings of their role in the organisation and the nature of the work they expect to carry out. The case study presented here looks at the interconnecting relationships and the impact of the new arrangements for the use of space on teachers' conceptions of their work.