Claiming Events of School (Re)Design: Materialising the Promise of Building Schools for the Future

Abstract

This paper focuses upon a major, ‘flagship’ programme of investment in school building (re)development instigated by the UK government: Building Schools for the Future (BSF). Drawing upon empirical material from research in two schools undergoing refurbishment in this policy context, we explore how BSF is manifest, in practice, as an event characterised by the promise of transformation. We focus upon two particular school buildings, highlighting how this promise has come to be attached, not unproblematically, to the redesign of diverse material school spaces, be they small and ‘functional’ (e.g. corridors) or high-profile and ‘inspirational’ (e.g. flagship atria).

Keywords: school, building schools for the future, promise, design, materiality, policy