Design as a social practice: the experience of new-build schools

Abstract

This the second of three papers which together explore the complex relationships between school design and educational practice. The first paper considered the ways in which designs may be put to use in a multitude of practices. This paper explores the ways in which design influences the perceptions and actions of students and teachers at five UK secondary schools. An understanding of practice differences at these schools extends typical Post Occupancy Evaluations (POEs) which focus on environmental issues such as acoustics, lighting and temperature, typically uses quantitative methods and often fail to explore how different environmental factors interact with users through time (Hygge 2003; Galasiu and Veitch 2006; Shaughnessy et al. 2006; Winterbottom and Wilkins 2009). There is also a lack of attention to the ways in which the processes of occupation may shape the experience of such spaces (Stables, Learoyd-Smith, Daniels and Tse, 2014). The study involved case study profiling to document a range of key issues discussed by teachers and students at each of these schools. These findings contribute to the development of a more holistic understanding of the ways in which design may contribute to processes of pedagogic transformation. In the first paper we argued that spaces that are designed for specific approaches to teaching and learning may be transformed when these spaces are used in practice. We have evidence that subsequent changes of leadership often involve further modification of the spaces and the practices of teaching and learning. In this paper we further suggest that these changes have significant consequences for the everyday experience of schooling as evidenced in the comments and actions of teachers and students.

Classroom Indoor Environment Assessment through Architectural Analysis for the Design of Efficient Schools

“…The prediction analysis of mathematics performance has confirmed a direct relationship with ventilation, room size, views and place attachment; according to latest contributions of holistic approaches [24], and two inverse thermal level and chair comfort. These results support the inevitable fact of social impact in architectural spaces [33][34][35], and the need for their measurement through empirical and architectural analyses to understand how they work and to design more sustainable learning spaces in terms of usability. However, relations with art performance seem smaller, results that could be linked to the difficult measurement of Arts [36].…”

“…In a recent study, none of these factors are the answer when students were surveyed about their learning space preferences, but they mainly prefer learning spaces related to the end of their learning activities [32]. Other studies have focused on the vital relation between learning space and pedagogy [33,34], and in need to consider the perception of the student to obtain a more holistic knowledge [35]. So, it seems consistent that disciplines as different as Art and Mathematics, which respond to different teaching needs or methodologies, receive different influences from the same learning space.…”

Designing and Building Robust Innovative Learning Environments

“…Moreover, teacher support for creating alignments is necessary for successful transitions to ILEs [36]. Teachers need time and support to prototype and experiment with new spatial arrangements and to understand the new plans [25,26,37]. The learning space design process may also include an activation phase led by the designer for translating the designed intentions for the spaces into action [38,39].…”

“…Several studies draw attention to the need for adequate preparation when transitioning to teaching and learning in ILEs [20,29,30]. Previous research shows that the more an ILE deviates from traditional design, the more important preparing habitants becomes [6,25,28]. If this process is not achieved to a sufficient extent, it can cause severe problems during the initial period, as well as attrition among head teachers and teachers at the new school.…”

“…As has been pointed out elsewhere in the article, one of the challenges of a wellfunctioning ILE is to align space and practice. In previous research studies, it was argued that teachers carry the main responsibility for aligning space and pedagogy [13,25]. This is certainly true from a narrow teaching and learning perspective, but it ignores other basic factors such as management, organization, and various support functions.…”