Ms M?ir?n N? Ch?ileachair:

We said earlier that we would be hard-pressed to find a science lab in a primary school. We need to look at how we design learning spaces. We spoke earlier about creative multipurpose spaces, which are sadly lacking in our schools at primary level. We are very good at providing classroom accommodation and perhaps, if one is lucky, God save us, a halla. Aside from that, there are no flexible learning areas in our schools which can be used for creative learning, and for things that require movement and collaboration. Classrooms, to a certain extent, can be used for these purposes but there needs to be a look at creative indoor and outdoor spaces. I realise that I am repeating myself but it is very important that these flexible spaces are made available at a very basic level, even somewhere where infants and early learners can go to play and engage with sand, water and all of those things which develop early STEM skills, such as exploration, manipulation of materials, playing with concrete materials, using their hands and working together in teams. Sometimes traditional classroom spaces do not allow for that so we need to look at the development of creative spaces and outdoor learning spaces.