Environmental design and educational performance with particular reference to 'green' schools in Hampshire and Essex

Research in Education, Nov 2006 by Edwards, Brian W

A similar picture has emerged in studies of green secondary schools, where performance indicators show improvement in examination results and lower levels of pupil absenteeism. However, the pattern is not as pronounced as in primary schools, suggesting that further work is required to establish the correlation for more senior pupils. Evidence, for example from the Probe Study of the John Cabot City Technology College in Bristol, a building noted for its attention to daylighting and other energy efficiency measures, suggests that it is teachers, not pupils, that most value the green environment. Here productivity enhancement attributed to the design of the school accounts, according to teachers interviewed, for a 4 per cent improvement in their output (Brister, 1994). The difference between teacher and pupil perception is thought to be the result of the way pupils at this level travel from classroom to classroom, thereby undermining the effect of the classroom environment on learning and behaviour (Edwards, 2003). However, as in the more recent Academies programme, 60 per cent of pupils claimed that the overall quality of design had a beneficial impact on their attitudes (Pricewaterhouse Cooper's, 2005 pp. 31-3).

A school is not only a place of learning for pupils, it is also a place of work for teachers. The research sought to establish the relation between the design of schools, subsequent comments made in OfStEd reports and the sense of well-being engendered in teachers. Do green schools with their special characteristics create a working environment which teachers value? Conversely, do poorly designed schools give a sense of under-investment in education which is not only reflected in poor pupil behaviour and test results but expressed in low teacher morale? In its report on the Elson infants' school in Gosport, Hampshire, carried out in 1999, the OfStEd inspectors reported that a 'high level of staff absences was having a negative impact upon the overall quality of teaching', and this the inspectors attributed to a number of limitations in the design of the school which they thought were adding to teacher stress.

The research highlights the importance of ensuring that the energy design strategy for the school and educational need coincide in terms of the use and management of classroom space for teaching and learning. Where a disjuncture occurs between sustainable design and curricular delivery teachers may be under additional stress, which is reflected in high levels of absenteeism or turnover. Typical problem areas identified with green schools are windows too high to open or controlled by a computerised management system (which teachers cannot override), inadequate solar shading of south-facing windows or sunlight reflecting on computer screens. In the pursuit of maximising daylight and sunlight in the classroom (for energy efficiency) temperatures are sometimes too low in the winter and too high in the summer, adding to pupil and teacher stress. When classroom ventilation systems fail to provide adequate air changes there is the temptation to employ fans, which add to noise levels and limit the audibility of the spoken word. These problems are most prevalent when schools are inadequately maintained or when the operation of environmental controls is not understood by teachers or caretakers. As a result, the research suggests, there may be pockets of teacher stress in otherwise well performing green schools. Also, the trend towards chalk-and-talk small-group teaching in the classroom results in complex control regimes for the teacher which the shape of the classroom may frustrate because of its lowenergy design characteristics. Although the OfStEd comments on the school environment tend to be more favourable to the green than to the control schools examined, a number of problems were identified (Table 5). These include noise disturbance as a result of open-plan strategies, cramped space and excessive sunlight in some areas of the classroom. On the positive side there is mention of attractive teaching environments, general brightness and a stimulating ethos in the school in general.