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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Pamela Woolner, Dr Paula Cardellino
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
The starting point of our analysis is to interrogate the proposal that the move towards Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs), understood as change to both design and practice in schools, represents an important global trend, considering if or how ILEs map onto transnational reforms. Then, informed by the need to balance acknowledgement of global trends and narratives with local experiences and policy ‘enactments’, we use the literature of school reform and educational change to consider the possibilities for two contrasting countries, Uruguay and Finland, currently attempting change to the experienced ‘learning environment’. We focus on policy and related documents from each country, particularly their recently revised national curricula, tracing global influences on these. We then draw on observations and conversations with staff in schools that have been built or refurbished to include spaces and design features intended to support ILEs. Evidence is presented of apparent enthusiasm from designers and educators in both countries for the new approaches and a reasonably coherent narrative of what is being attempted. This appears, however, to overstate the change that is actually happening in most schools, where ILE features tend not to be used and the ‘classroom’ model of a teacher and class is still predominant. Our analysis traces the possible influences of these teacher experiences on local and national decisions, considering their possible impact on policy and even on the global narrative about ILE.
Author(s): Woolner P, Cardellino P
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Review of Education
Year: 2026
Volume: 14
Issue: 2
Print publication date: 01/08/2026
Online publication date: 18/05/2026
Acceptance date: 08/05/2026
Date deposited: 19/05/2026
ISSN (print): 2049-6613
ISSN (electronic): 2049-6613
Publisher: BERA
URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.70168
DOI: 10.1002/rev3.70168
Data Access Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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