The group is to plan the project of a new educational institution. First, brainstorm the idea what major problems are to be faced when planning the project. The idea of setting up a school, college or university is closer to home and altogether simpler. The new institution can be based on that which the students are at present attending. They usually have strong convictions about what needs change and reform; here is their chance to express their criticisms in a constructive and imaginative way: if they had the job of rebuilding and replanning the whole institution, how would they do it? Alternatively they may be asked to plan for another totally imaginary situation; three suggestions are given below.
Points to be considered should include: finance, size and scope, type of students, staffing, range of subjects offered, facilities, geographical position and layout, organization and administration, extra-curricular activities, rules. Here are some possible group and individual roles:
a) You are a committee appointed to set up a new university in a town of twenty thousand inhabitants. (You can prefer to set up a new university in your own town. You are welcome!!!) You have agenerous budget which will enable you to build and equip an entire campus. The surrounding area is heavily industrialized, and up to now a relatively low proportion of the population has gone on to further education; it is hoped that the existence of a local university may change this.
Roles: an architect, a town councillor, a prospective student, his father/mother, an influential local businessman, experienced teachers and administrators.
b) A high school is to be built in a suburb of the capital city of this country/state; up to now the children have attended a big school half an hour's journey away. The local population is mainly middle class and well off, most of the parents being university graduates. The school will provide for about three hundred children between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. The money available will cover basic buildings and equipment, but will not run to luxuries (what are 'luxury' and what are 'basic' items will depend on national standards!)
Roles: as in (a) above.
c) You are a committee appointed to set up a primary school in a remote village in tropical Africa, where no school has existed before, for about sixty children ranging in age from eight to fourteen. You have three trained teachers and three or four young people from the village who have finished their high school education and are willing to help. You have no buildings, enough money for only the crudest equipment, and will have to improvise.
Roles:
- The head teacher, dedicated and enthusiastic, but perhaps over-ambitious.
- An older teacher of some experience, wise, but rather sceptical and defeatist.
- A young teacher fresh from university, town-bred and out of touch with local conditions.
- The head-man, eager for his village to have the school, willing to help, but doesn't want to offend villagers.
- A villager, father of prospective pupils, suspicious of innovations, would rather things stayed as they are.
- A young woman from the village, uneducated but eager to be involved.