Every Friday, an 8-year-old Blenheim boy comes home "teary" and "stressed" because of his school's modern learning environment. Two years ago, a 7-year-old girl hid in the toilets to avoid a mass yoga session with 60 children.

What are modern learning environments, and what are parents' options if they don't think these newfangled styles of learning are the right fit for their kids?

First, let's break down the terminology.

A modern learning environment (MLE) is a classroom that is different to the traditional style of rows of desks facing a teacher.

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An innovative learning environment (ILE) is a collaborative, flexible classroom that can evolve to meet the needs of a rapidly changing society. It covers teaching style and technology, as well as lighting and colour.

A flexible learning environment (FLE) refers to the physical classroom design, encompassing light and colour, furniture, and how pupils and teachers are able to move between spaces.

THE PURPOSE

The idea is for teachers to work together, and for students to work with the teacher who best fits their learning needs - all in 50 to 300-person open-plan classrooms.

RICKY WILSON/STUFF Modern learning environment (MLE) describes classrooms that are different to the traditional rows of desks facing a teacher. (File photo)

The Government is spending millions of dollars on the modern open-plan classrooms, setting them up all around the country, but some parents are moving their children to different schools to avoid them.

Figures from the Ministry of Education in 2017 showed it had spent $747.7 million on contracts to build, and in some cases maintain, 19 new ILE schools since 2013.

The ministry now requires new school buildings to have good acoustics, heating, ventilation and lighting, and non load-bearing internal walls to ensure future flexibility but other property modifications are determined by individual schools' boards of trustees.

Ministry of Education head of infrastructure Kim Shannon told Radio NZ the feedback it had received from teachers, students and families about modern learning was overwhelmingly positive.

"Innovative learning environments includes the whole physical, social and teaching environment. It allows students to study on their own, work with their peers in groups, be independent learners, and to develop skills that help them collaborate with others," she said.

THE RESEARCH

A 2017 Government-sponsored study into innovative learning environments found it had been "difficult to justify" their use to date.

The Melbourne University study surveyed 6000 schools, including all 2529 schools in New Zealand, found a stronger correlation between "positive teacher mind frames" and better student learning in open plan classrooms than traditional ones, though its lead author cautioned it was hard to draw clear causal links in a "deeply complicated" area like education.

A paper from the New Zealand Council for Educational Research said teachers struggled to let students learn through failure in MLEs, while Melbourne Education Research Institute director John Hattie wrote that, without investment in teachers, open classrooms were "missed opportunities" at best.

NOT EASY FOR TEACHERS

One teacher, who asked to remain anonymous, said he was struggling with 50-child classrooms at his Christchurch primary school.

At least half of his fellow teachers were exhausted, he said.

The level of collaboration between the teachers sharing spaces ended up distracting them from working with the pupils, who were in turn distracted by each other, causing learning outcomes to go down, he said.

WHAT ARE PARENTS' OPTIONS?

Options are limited, to say the least, for parents who are uncertain about the modern learning elements of their local school.

Blenheim woman Kia King said her eldest son came home from school "teary and worked up and stressed" each week.

RICKY WILSON/STUFF Blenheim mother-of-three Kia King, with her youngest son Kieran, is on a quest for evidence about modern learning environments.

Her son was given a "massive list of stuff to do each week", and was then required to self-manage his workload and submit everything for marking on Friday.

"Eighty per cent of his learning is online. All of a sudden your child is on a laptop all day. They've got a Google account, they've got Gmail," King said.

"The students that are doing well barely get talked to by the teacher. They are probably learning way more and he might be full of information but he's not getting real-life interactions with people.

"Being an 8-year-old is way more complicated these days. I was way more carefree at that age."

What are King's options for her son's education? Like it or lump it (by moving to a new school), basically.

What has been your experience of MLE, ILE, and FLE learning? Tell us in the comments.