Open-plan classrooms are trendy but there is little evidence to show they help students learn

By Anika Stobart, Jordana Hunter and Brigette Garbin
Community contribution / February 13, 2023

If you step into a newly built school these days, chances are you will see classrooms that look very different to the classrooms most of us spent our school years in as children.

On a recent visit to a new primary school in Melbourne, Grattan Institute’s education team entered a large room that ...

Nursery Practitioner

Veritas Bradford

Teaching - Early childhood / Sep 17, 2026

Higher Level Teaching Assistant, Leeds - HLTA

Veritas Leeds

Teaching - Primary / Sep 17, 2026

Teaching Learning Support Classroom Assistant. KS1 & KS2

Veritas Leeds

Teaching - Primary / Sep 17, 2026

School news / Children’s trauma centre to open after Bondi massacre

A new treatment centre will aim to help kids recover from traumatic incidents including the Bondi Beach massacre.

School news / Overnewton staff stop work as pay offer falls behind govt schools

Teachers and education support staff at Overnewton Anglican Community College in Melbourne’s north west have stopped work on Thursday as their dispute over wages and workloads escalates.

School news / Complex risks: call for LGBTQI teens to get stronger school protection

Advocates are calling for sexually diverse students to have stronger legal protections at schools, after findings from a youth suicide investigation identified key risk factors.

School news / Man to face court for alleged bus attack on Muslim schoolgirl

A man accused of verbally abusing a young Muslim schoolgirl on a bus will face court.

School news / ‘Educationally indefensible’: peak body issues urgent open letter to Catholic Schools Maitland Newcastle

Catholic Schools Maitland Newcastle continues to come under fire from literacy and education bodies nationwide over its plan to cut teacher-librarian positions in 58 schools across the Diocese.

School news / High expectations and strong routines: Youth detention educator drives cultural overhaul

‘Every minute matters’ is the mantra that drives one award-winning educator in her mission to hand incarcerated youth the rigorous learning experience they need to chart a better life course.

School news / ‘You start to think like a lawyer’: principals develop hyper-vigilance over difficult parents

Australian principals have developed an anxious hyper-vigilance around their communication with parents, as cyberbullying and threats of legal action over various grievances reshape their working lives – and it comes with a significant emotional t...

School news / Neuroscientist backs school screens reform but warns against missing bigger picture

Australia’s education reset must focus on how the brain actually learns – not simply how much technology is used in classrooms, according to a leading educational neuroscientist.

School news / Thinking outside the box: inside one school’s efforts to stamp out mysogyny

“They’ll speak to girls, women teachers differently than certain male teachers,” a female primary school teacher tells her peers.

School news / Back to basics: NSW caps school screen time, but not everyone agrees

Students will be forced back to pen and paper as the NSW Government moves to cap daily screen time to as little as 15 minutes against a backdrop of falling test scores.

Open-plan classrooms are trendy but there is little evidence to show they help students learn

Comments

EducationID

Our services

Ad centre