The quality of education suffers when pedagogies are not aligned with physical learning spaces. For example, the architecture of the triple-decker Victorian schools across England fits the information transmission model that was dominant in the industrial age, but makes it more difficult to implement student-centred pedagogies that better fit a modern knowledge society. Yet, very little is known about how to reach powerful alignment of pedagogies and physical learning spaces. This article aims to fill this gap by describing a participatory design process to help to realise physical spaces and school buildings that optimally support specific visions of learning and pedagogy. Three phases are distinguished in this design process: (1) specifying the pedagogy, (2) aligning the pedagogy with seating arrangements and physical learning spaces, and (3) realising the school building. Particular attention is given to the core tasks relating to pedagogy (phases one and two), and especially the second phase, in which school management, teachers and students on the one hand, and architects and interior designers on the other must collaborate in a participatory design process. Illustrations are given from two schools, UCL Academy in London, UK, and De Werkplaats Kindergemeenschap in Bilthoven, The Netherlands. How to cite this article: van Merri€ enboer JJG, McKenney S, Cullinan D, Heuer J. Aligning pedagogy with physical learning spaces. Eur J Educ. 2017;52:253-267. https://doi.
User participation is a key element in decision processes concerning the accommodation of dynamic organisations such as schools. This article addresses the discrepancy between the perspectives of the architects and engineers, as the makers of school buildings, and school management, teachers and students, as the users of the buildings, and proposes that productive and efficient participatory design of school buildings requires appropriate information tools. Visual information technology tools, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), already used in interaction between architects, engineers, consultants, etc., are proposed to support school managers, teachers and students in participating in all stages of the life cycle of their school building.The proposed use of BIM is compared to a retrospective analysis of a Dutch school which realised a completely new secondary education building. The article concludes with recommendations to increase the impact of visual information technology tools such as BIM in the design of school buildings in Europe and beyond.
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