Tradition and organisational convenience dictate that students be grouped according to age and that learning be governed by clocks and calendars.

In the real world, of course, learning defies such structures. It happens all over the place: in games, in family discussions, as people observe and relate to each other, when they read and talk and daydream. It happens when children use and explore technology and when they try to make sense of all the formal experiences allowed by those clocks and calendars.

In short, it happens any time, anywhere, around anything.

This is not to deny the fact that school must provide structures for purposeful learning. Schools cannot become free-for-alls!

The challenge is to organise learning opportunities in ways which are consistent with good learning theory, reliable research and best practice.

Some of the information we need has been with us for a long time. Other information is still emerging. How, for instance, can we best incorporate relational technologies?

We might also consider how staff can be better utilised within the learning-teaching engagement. For too long, there has been a prime focus on the student-teacher ratio rather than on the manner in which individual teachers are involved.

Consideration of a variety of pedagogies, types of teamwork, flexible structures and alternative arrangements can lead to ways of taking this important agenda item forward.