What Works: Changing Practice When Spaces Change

In 2010 and 2011 Christchurch, New Zealand suffered a series of catastrophic earthquakes that left tens of thousands of city buildings damaged and hundreds of people dead. Many public buildings across the city, including schools, were damaged beyond repair and the programme to rebuild them has resulted in one of the largest school network renewal projects the world has ever seen. The New Zealand government has invested more than NZ$1.1 billion to rebuild and renew 115 schools (New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2014a, p. 1). An explicit goal of the New Zealand Ministry of Education (2014a) through this process was to make what they call “modern learning environments … common throughout greater Christchurch” (p. 2). The New Zealand Ministry of Education (2012) also set out a number of other objectives for the programme, namely, to “improve the delivery of education, extend the options available for learners, and lift student achievement”, “support the establishment of modern learning environments designed to meet the needs of the whole community”, build “fewer schools offering a wider range of educational options and specialised training that give greater Christchurch a distinctive advantage”, offer “single site provision of early childhood education (ECE) through to tertiary education, alongside a range of other services”, and share facilities “to extend the learning opportunities available to a wider group of learners” (p. 2)