Innovative learning environments:about traditional and new patterns of learning

How can the conception of formal learning environments like schools foster individual learning and the acquisition of the competences necessary for a rewarding participation in the knowledge societies of the twenty-first century? Just how important learning has become as an issue for society is demonstrated by the interest shown in the subject by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). A project launched by its Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) in a number of countries (including several European countries, among them Austria) focuses on how 'innovative learning environments' (ILE) can contribute to offering meaningful and sustainable learning experiences for learners in the twenty-first century. This article presents the main findings of the Austrian part of the project and discusses whether and how the development of ILE is possible against the background of school routines and a school system that-despite a number of reform projects-seems to be successfully resistant to change. The article focuses on the question of whether and how learning is made meaningful for the pupils and whether and how those learning environments identified as innovative really do support fruitful and meaningful processes of learning.