Current and future trends in the design of school buildings and

classroom environment in Iceland

Anna Kristín Sigurðardóttir, University of Iceland, aks@hi.is

Tartu City in EstoniaOctober 22, 2015

Agenda

• Background• Design of the school buildings – trends in

the 21st century• The link between pedagogy and design

(open plan schools and traditional schools)

• Pupils’ and staffs’ attitudes

Menntavísindasvið

Icelandic school system

Preschools 1 – 5 Municipalities

Compulsory schools

6 – 16 Municipalities

Upper secondary schools 16 – 19 State

Universities State / private

Individualised learning – and student collaboration- emphasised since 2000 in many policy documents

• to deal with different tasks that suit their learning ability, • increased responsibility for their own learning, • to make individual plans for their learning, • to work in active collaboration with their schoolmates,• different ways of working according to their own learning style

or interest.• to make decisions about their learning (such as choose of

tasks or ways of working)• and participate in decisions about the school work.

Measurement tool for individualised learning (2005). Reykjavik City Department of Education)

The study: Teaching and learning in Icelandic schools

Sample of 20 primary and lower secondary schools (6 – 16 years old).Six strands: student learning, teaching methods, physical learning environment, parents involvement, leadership and attitudes. Focus: Individualised learningMethods: • Observations on site including classroom observations in 1st–

10th grades (N=385); photographs, screening of drawings, open descriptions and quantitative data about teaching methods

• Electronic surveys among school staff (N=823), students (N=1824) and parents (3481). Statements about different aspects of practice and attitudes

• Interviews with leaders, teachers, IT staff, school librarians and students

Sigurðardóttir, A. K. and Hjartarson, T. (2011). Drawings: ARKÍS ehf

New wave of open plan schools

Designed for team-work, more open approach, transparency, flexibility and individualised learning.

• Open plan schools were built in many countries around the world, ca. 1965 – 1975/1980.

• They were changed into traditional arrangement rather quickly.

• Now is a new wave of open plan schools.

WHY?

What are the differences in pedagogy?

20th century school environment

A school with a cluster of classrooms

Home economics, natural sciences, languages, special needs, music

Social hallArt and crafts

Sport facilities

Teachers workroom is in each cluster in order to encourage collaboration.

Different colors are

used to separate the

clusters.

Cluster of classrooms

Layout of new school @ Studio Strik

Open school –Open learning spaces

@ VA- arkitektar

Social hall – Library - Canteen

Group 1

Group 3Group 2

Music and dramaEntrance

Administration

Sport

Ground floor

Menntavísindasvið

Menntavísindasvið

Schools in the centre of the community

Open ways of working by creating transparency

Open ways of working by creating transparency

Library and media centre inthe centre of the building

Library and media centre inthe centre of the building

Library and media centre inthe centre of the building

School design and pedagogy

• Based on descriptions from observation, the classrooms were categorises in open plan classrooms, traditional classrooms, team-teaching in traditional classroom layout and other. Comparison were made between the open plan classrooms and traditional classrooms.

• Comparison was made between those who claimed, in the survey, that they taught only or mostly in open plan classrooms and those who taught only or mostly in traditional classrooms.

Menntavísindasvið

Classroom arrangement by student level of age classroom

observation N = 383

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

49

27

13 11

61

1814

7

75

8 107

grades 1 - 4 (n= 162) grades 5 - 7 (n= 122)

grades 8 - 10 (n= 99)

%

I teach only or mostly in ….Teachers responses to a questionnaire N =

582

..traditional classroom ..open plan classroom equally in traditional and open

Not applicable0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

59

29

84

74

1510

1

85

94 2

grades 1 - 4

grades 5 - 7

grades 8 - 10

%

Independent groupwork

outdoor education

films

group discussion

independent wokr

project work

ICT programme

use of ICT

learning games

drama

experiments

writtenassignments

read together ..

groupwork

show how ...

worksheets

one-way instruction

direct instruction ..discussions

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

daily

weakly

monthly

rarely or never

How often do you use …?

Teaching methods

according to teachers‘

responds in twenty schools

Teachers working only or mostly in open plan classroom seem to use less direct instruction and more project work, drama and learning games.

Differences between open plan classrooms and traditional, based on

teachers responses (Spearman r)

Open plan vstraditional

Individualised learning4 items alpha = 0.79

Adapt towards student’ needs

6 items alpha = 0.84

Collaboration6 items alpha = 0.93

Satisfaction with student’ facilities

7 items alpha = 0.83

Teachers’ satisfaction 7 items alpha = 0.83

,324 **

,116*

ns

ns

,108 *

*p<0.01; **p<0.05

In open plan classrooms are more

developed individualisation, more teachers

collaboration and the teachers are more

satisfied with facilities for students.

Teachers are equally satisfied with the environment

and claim it is equally easy or difficult to adapt it

towards students needs.

Proportions of teachers who claimed it easy (totally, very or rather) to adapt different environment conditions towards individual students’ needs (n = 401 – 411).

%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

6157

36

57

46

36

62

7064

5247

37

Teach only or mostly in tratitional classroomsTeach only or mostly in open plan classrooms

How often or rarely are students in your class allowed to choose tasks/ subjects?

In every lesson Once a week Once or twice in a month

Once a term Almost never0

10

20

30

40

50

60

9

32

27

171413

49

20

8 9

Teach only or mostly in tradi-tional classroomTeach only or mostly in open classroom

%

Workstations in open plan classrooms “a carousel“

Pupils choice

In all schools a „carousel“ was used to increase variety in pupils tasks.

• T: It is the carousel that I called pupils‘ choice.• Q: Yes.• T: Which is of course no choice because they are not

choosing anything. • Q: No • T: They just go to the workstations in groups.• Q: Can they choose between tasks within the stations? • T: No, it is totally under our control.

(Teacher in grade 4 in school C)

I work with colleagues daily or many times per day about:

… lessons preparation

… classroom management

… teaching methods

… selection of textbooks

… overhaul of textbooks

… assessment0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

28

20

10 11 10

5

62

56

44

37

31

18

Teach only or mostly in traditional classroom

Teach only or mostly in open plan classroom

%

Those who agree to the statements

There are open discussions about different issues concerning

the school.

There are critical and objective discussions among staff.

There is a positive school ethos among staff

I participate in decision making on school‘s issues.

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

55

48

73

44

34

30

61

29

Teach only or mostly in traditional classroom

Teach only or mostly in open plan classrooms

%

About team teaching

• We have been team teaching for about one year .. . I was sceptical in the beginning … but now I like it very much … easier, less stress and much more fun.

Teacher in grade 2 in school A

Teachers satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the acoustic in open plan classroom and traditional

classrooms. (χ2(1, N = 442) = 5,3, p < 0,05).

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

5

16

25 24

18

8

33

13

18

2629

9

3

Teach only or mostly in traditional classroomTeach only or mostly in open plan classrooms

%

How well does the current classroom environment, which you work in most of the

time, suit your ideal teaching methods?

Completely Very well Rather well Neither Rather badly

Very badly Not at all0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

6

25

46

12

7

30

9

30

39

10 11

20

Teach only or mostly in open plan classroomTeach only or mostly in traditional classroom

%

KLI

TORJ

NU

MBHDAGPCESF

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

7

12

13

17

27

28

30

31

32

33

36

39

42

55

56

57

77

82

86

School

Completely or very satisfied with the building

Pupils voice (grades 5 – 7)

Pupils are in general satisfied with the building.

Just, it is simple, easy to know where you are.

It is open but still closed. Also not too big. One can always get some peace but at the same time one can see everything. One can see if someone is there or there. Then it is also two floors.

Where is the best place to be? Pupils voice

• They liked most their (base) classrooms but the must fun was were their favorite subject was taught. They liked to be able to go to more peaceful and quiet spaces once in a while, warm and cozy with plants and sofas. They also wanted to be able to sometimes, choose how they work.

Menntavísindasvið

Second best (after the library) is the art room, so many items and it is good to think there, also colorful, but still clean.

Computers are rarely used in their study – pupils voice

The computers are extremely slow, it takes about half an hour to get in.

If we know nothing and the teacher do not know it, then we google it.

Students in upper secondary schools

(Anna Kristín Sigurðardóttir, 2015)

• Students value learning environment that gives them to some kind of flexibility. They like to sit in groups where they can choose to work or consult with other students or not. They also like environment as e.g. in libraries where they can expect a quiet area and various working conditions.

• They do not value rigid environment for learning, that is crowded, hot and lack flexibility, such as in computer rooms and in traditional classrooms where everyone sit in rows, facing same direction.

• There seems to be a big gap between student preferences for a good place for learning and existing environment in upper secondary schools.

Proportion of pupils (N = 1824), staff (N-823) and parents (N = 3481) that were totally, very or rather

satisfied with facilities for pupils.

Menntavísindasvið

In the classrooms

In art and craft

Outside the classroom

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

83

85

85

71

74

44

81

74

61

Parents Staff Pupils

Some final remarks

• Teachers working only or mostly in open plan classroom seem to use less direct instruction and more project work, drama and learning games.

• Students are allowed more choice in open plan classroom indicating higher level of individualised learning and also a promising conditions for student centred learning environment

• Teachers working in open plan classrooms do collaborate more than those working in traditional classrooms.

Physical design:Building design, technology and

other material elements.

Organisation: Structure of staff, schedule, and

administrative and district support

Educational culture: Assumptions and values regarding

educational goals and methods.

Student dynamics: Academic motivation and

focus, and behaviour.

School environment model Owens and Valesky (2007), adopted by Gislason (2010)

Thank you

Referneces• Gislason, N. (2010). Architectural design and the learning environment: A framework

for school design research. Learning Environment Research, 13, 127–145.• Land, S., Hannafin, M. J. & Oliver, K. (2012). Student-centred learning environments:

Foundations, assumptions and design. Í Jonasson og Land (eds), Theoretical foundations of learning environments, (2.ed. , p. 3–25). New York: Routledge.

• Reykjavík City. 2005). Measurement tool for individualised learning (2005). Reykjavik City Department of Education)

• Sigurðardóttir, A. K. and Hjartarson, T. (2011). School buildings for the 21st century. Some features of new school buildings in Iceland. CEPS Journal, 1(2), 25–43.

• Sigurðardóttir, A.K. & Hjartarson, T. (in press). The idea and reality of an innovative school

From inventive design to established practice in a new school building.• Sigurðardóttir, A.K., Sigurgeirsson, I. & Sigþórsson, R. (in press). Teaching Practice in

Open Plan and Traditional Classrooms.