A recent survey has shown that teachers believe that the design of a school has an effect upon pupil performance. This is possibly a timely reminder for those architects, designers and consultants involved in BSF.
One criticism I have had about BSF designs is that it is bringing ‘open plan’ schools back. This is despite the evidence and experience we have gained from the 60s and 70s which indicate that open plan schools have a detrimental effect upon pupil performance.
One major criticism in the report was that teachers were unable to control the temperature in a classroom. I’m sure all of us as teachers have experienced this and seen the effect it has upon our performance as well as the performance of pupils.
9 out of 10 teachers said that classroom lay-out was the most important aspect of school design. The key point here is that they have classrooms rather than teaching ‘bays’ or part of a much larger room accommodating other groups at the same time. These classrooms need to be versatile and of such a size that staff can move furniture around easily to create variable workspaces; this must be the key message to BSF designers.
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Post Revisions:
- 5 January, 2010 @ 8:48 [Current Revision] by doug
- 5 January, 2010 @ 8:48 by doug
- 4 January, 2010 @ 9:03 by doug
Tags: BSF, school design
