Teachers’ Views of Their Primary School Classrooms

This article presents the views of 222 head teachers and classroom-based teachers about their experiences and perceptions of 193 specific classroom environments from 29 primary schools in 3 different areas in England, UK. One-to-one interviews were carried out focusing on teachers’ perceptions about their classrooms throughout the year. It was found that teachers’ views of their overall comfort were fairly high, despite widespread problems with overheating, stuffiness, glare and noise. Surprisingly, schools built in 1950s had the least negative feelings, while those since the 1990s to date had the highest. The teachers appear to be aware of the ‘hard’ aspects of the physical environment, but less conscious of the impact of ‘softer’ aspects, especially those with impact on the level of stimulation created.

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Professor Barrett is a past President of the UN-established International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB). He is Emeritus Professor of Management in Property and Construction at Salford University in the UK and Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Education at Oxford University.  Peter is an international advisor to the OECD and the US-based Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture and the American Institute of Architects. He has produced over one hundred and seventy single volume publications, refereed papers and reports, and has made over one hundred and ten presentations in around sixteen countries.  Professor Barrett has undertaken a wide range of research. For the last ten years this has focused on the theme of Senses, Brain and Spaces with a particular interest in the area of school design and achieving optimal learning spaces. The findings of this work have, for the first time, isolated the significant scale of the influence of physical classroom design on variations in pupils’ learning. This has directly influenced, for example, the US Green Building Council and the Norwegian Education Directorate. 

 

 

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