Vision for Appropriate Education

BLOC, in collaboration with Passend Onderwijs Almere, is setting out a broad vision for an inclusion of special education in the construction of one of Almere’s new districts. By including the wishes of students and education experts dealing with special educational needs at an early stage, an inclusive and supportive educational environment is created. This research shows the opportunities of when education is integrally included in an area development.

Context

Almere will expand in the coming years with the new Almere Pampus district. This district has room for 25,00 to 35,000 new homes. The estimated 4,000 pupils of primary school age that this district will attract will be educated at about 10 primary schools and later move on to the 1 or 2 new secondary education facilities in Pampus, or the other existing secondary education facilities in neighbouring districts.

Besides regular education, special education facilities should not be forgotten. In Almere, a large expertise group has been active in special education for years. Recently, they have been working hard on a Support Plan: the policy underpinning of their work. What was still missing was a good translation to the spatial world. BLOC developed a spatial housing vision for (appropriate) education in Pampus Almere. To bridge the gap between the knowledge of the directors of appropriate education and the spatial issues in Pampus. With this translation, we build a bridge between the knowledge of the directors of appropriate education and the spatial issues in Pampus. And in doing so, we make education leading in spatial development.

“Education should be the backbone of this area development”

Frank Kolsteeg – department manager education, sports and culture, Municipality of Almere

Approach

Together with Passend Onderwijs Almere, and more than ten education directors from various special education institutions in Almere, we set out a vision for special education in the district. With a series of interviews and sessions, we processed their practical experience towards a spatial vision for both primary education (PO) and secondary education (VO). Integrality of these visions was very important! After all, educational housing is an important (policy) instrument for tackling social issues and stimulating cooperation/synergy between functions and facilities. In addition, educational housing can be used to make Almere more inclusive as a city and increase its liveability. Integrality is key here: how do you build a strong relationship between the various visions and other themes? Can education be a driving force in this?

Vision

With all the information retrieved during the interviews, BLOC developed a spatial vision for both primary and secondary education. These visions each come with their own set of measures, called game rules. The visions and ground rules address four main themes that are inextricably linked to educational housing, the building and the school itself, the proximity and presence of care facilities, the connection with the neighbourhood and the accessibility and accessibility of the building.

But developing educational accommodation for the new district is not enough. What is important now is that this ‘education layer’ is further developed together with the other layers of the urban fabric, as shown in the illustration (read: green, accessibility, care, neighbourhood facilities, etc.) Because education is not separate from society. With the aim that all these layers connect, and positively reinforce each other.

Follow-up

BLOC conducted this research commissioned by the Stichting Passend Onderwijs Almere and with the help of education directors from several special education institutions in Almere. In doing so, we gained many valuable insights on how to better integrate education into the urban fabric. We are now discussing with the municipality how to follow up on this process. That way, we really give education the place it deserves in the urban fabric.