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Examining the impact of the built environment in schools on behaviour and learning
Table of Contents:
Thoughtful school design isn’t just about aesthetics or squeezing in the required square footage. It’s about flow, function and creating spaces that work with human behaviour, not against it, to best support students and staff. Research suggests that, “In the grand tapestry of education, we often overlook the foundational thread that holds it all together – the very buildings in which we learn.”
In 1943, Winston Churchill, considering the repair of the bomb-ravaged House of Commons, said, “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” Nowhere is this truer than in schools. Every inch of a school’s layout impacts how students and staff behave. Whilst academic outcomes, curriculum design, behaviour and inclusion, command a huge amount of an educator’s focus, it is suggested that buildings, the physical location of education, is something that has been rather ‘left to’ the builders and architects.
Historically, shortages of space and overcrowding in schools were created by the raising of the school leaving age to 16, planned in 1944 and implemented in 1972. The impact of this is still felt. “The lack of space in school halls, gyms, canteens and other areas is the cause of many of the problems blighting today’s secondary schools”, writes Naomi Breen, educational researcher at University of Manchester.
Cost-saving requirements, rising populations and lack of consultation with teachers, meant that many new buildings from the 1950s onwards were too small and schools were forced to expand. “After 1944, the shanty towns of temporary school buildings became a permanent feature of many modern secondary schools and this impacted on their effectiveness”. The “bog standard comprehensive school” described infamously by Alastair Campbell in 2001, was born.
Later, the UK’s Building Schools for the Future programme (2003 – 2010) was a process designed to address the alarming pressure for improved school infrastructure. The programme delivered buildings, bid for by builders, bound by a series of regulations. They were designed and reviewed by architects. But, as noted in ‘Designing Schools from the Inside Out’, schools are NOT just buildings; schools are spaces in which growth and development occur and individuals are empowered to reach their full potential. Creating fully optimised environments for this, informed by research, thus becomes a priority for educators and architects and designers.
It is said that the meticulous design of a building can guide, direct, or even impede human movement and behaviour. Research from Common Edge, non-profit architectural researcher, highlights that traditionally, architecture has always been recognised for its aesthetics and functionality but its implications for human behaviour go far beyond that.
There is a very deep relationship between the physical environment and human psychology. A National Library of Medicine (NLM) study on mental capital and wellbeing, showed that poorly designed environments can even reinforce depression.
Infamous architectural horror stories linked to building design and human behaviour, include modernist high-rise block developments, both in the UK and worldwide, which quickly became notorious for their crime, squalor and social dysfunction. Critics of said developments argued that the wide, open spaces between the blocks of modernist high-rises, discouraged a sense of community, particularly as crime rates started to rise.
The BBC reports on the lack of behavioural insight behind modernist block building projects of the late 20th century. The report notes a sense of isolation from the wider community, poor lines of sight and ill-conceived public spaces. It is said many of these buildings seem, “designed for you not to succeed” – Tinie Tempah, British grime artist (who grew up in one).
What does the impact of building design mean for schools?
Multiple studies have found that poorly designed spaces and sub-standard materials are not conducive to teaching and learning. Surveyors to Education note that much of our school infrastructure was built for generations of pupils who are now approaching retirement, with 60% of school buildings in 2021 dating from before 1976.
Data from the University of Salford suggests that school layouts can influence a child’s development by as much as 25% over the course of an academic year. For children in poorer school environments, attitudes, behaviour and attainment all tend to be lower than in well-designed spaces.
The NLM’s research into school built environments and bullying, shows that an overwhelming majority of teachers believe that good school buildings can reduce bullying incidents. The study shows growing evidence that a school’s built environment can create or modify opportunities for bullying behaviour to occur.
Participants noted that where visibility was compromised by building design, bullying incidents were far more common. “[Bullying occurs] where you don’t have multiple exits…Where [areas] are enclosed and quite dark—that is where people can be doing things around the corner and not be seen.” Unclear pathways that lacked signage and potentially led to hidden or under-utilised areas of school buildings were also linked to bullying. “Clarity of order is really important for spaces to discourage bullying…It’s not just about visibility, but knowing that you are going in the right direction… you can clearly see the way from A to B”.
Temporary classrooms, bike sheds, toilets and other out-of-sight spaces such as those just described, are still common in many UK schools, due to the chronic lack of space. Research directly links these spaces to increased incidents of bullying, hiding, smoking and other anti-social behaviours.
It is also reported that crowded areas, characterised by too many people in the space available, interferes with visibility, students’ physical comfort and their perceived safety. “If you don’t give [students] enough space, then they are going to fight… it can become bullying. They’re going to fight through the corridor… they knock shoulders and then all of a sudden you’ve got [an altercation] … in a physical space it’s really important to make sure there is enough room.” (NLM research).
An Australian study even notes that while some students’ behaviours can be challenging or distressing, there are design features that can actually encourage positive behaviour and help these students to self-regulate. In well-designed spaces, behaviour of participants in the study changed; challenging behaviour happened less often and was less severe in the cases where student and school needs were central to the building design process.
Well-designed educational institutions take into consideration factors such as ease of navigation, accessibility and the creation of spaces that foster learning and collaboration.
The quality of the physical environment in schools clearly is tied to student outcomes; the layout and organisation having a significant impact on behaviour and engagement, cementing that this physical environment must be optimised.
So where are the ‘pain points’?
Behaviour incidents are most likely to happen at break and lunchtimes. Unsurprisingly, high-traffic, crowded school dining halls, toilets and corridors, particularly those with poor lines of sight, are widely recorded as ‘pain points’ within school buildings. Educators up and down the country will collectively recognise these areas and times of day as being most likely to spark low-level behaviour issues, social disputes and parental complaints. Frustratingly, as reported in specialist school guidance, many of these incidents are entirely avoidable.
Dining Halls: Queuing, crowding and ‘hangry’ teens
The body of research surrounding school lunchtimes reports that despite innovative practice elsewhere, in the majority of schools, the noisiest, messiest, least happy place is the dining hall. The school dining experience is far more than simply the meals being served; it is about the atmosphere, queuing times, seating, plates, cutlery, interaction with those serving, payment and location of the serving hatches or tables – to name but a few pieces of a very fragile puzzle!
Whilst every school is different, the challenges faced within school dining tend to be the same. Feeding hundreds, sometimes well over a thousand pupils, in a timeframe generally no longer than an hour, is undeniably a feat. Many of the best restaurants in the world would be hard-pushed to achieve the same results.
The ‘Better Spaces for Learning’ study found that in schools where social and dining spaces were large enough to accommodate pupils without feeling crowded or rushed, wellbeing was improved. Positive social interaction among peers was facilitated by the building design. Dining spaces that required students to queue or move slowly, were frequently identified as common bullying locations. Many of these spaces were crowded or uncomfortable.
The NLM’s study on the school built environment and bullying, shared educators’ views on their dining hall offering. “In canteens kids are “hangry” so they are wanting food. It’s often time-dependent because equipment and places to sit are social priorities in schools… You want the basketball court first. You want the seat that’s under the shade… so kids want to be at the front of the lines…”
The McDonald’s Model
Interestingly, there is much to learn from how fast-food restaurants manage flow in their dining spaces. Specialist school providers, Beacon School Support, share tips for other educators on how thinking like McDonald’s can improve school dining with immediate results.
Like most fast food businesses, McDonald’s analyses and times every part of their dining process to ensure that food is served as efficiently as possible to waiting customers. They understand that quicker service equates to more profit. In schools, this becomes quicker service equating to better behaviour and happier lunchtimes.
Even in the busiest fast food restaurants, self-service stations, clear signage and multiple collection points keep people moving and reduce customer frustration.
Applied effectively through smart building design in schools, these principles could transform school lunchtimes from a daily headache into a well-oiled machine. While the menu would naturally require more balance, with a focus on healthy eating for our young people, there’s something to be learned from the McDonald’s design model in terms of speed, efficiency and happy diners.
The Regis School, Bognor Regis, have done exactly this, with truly transformative results.
Toilets
Often tucked away and unsupervised, school toilets create opportunities for bullying or anti-social behaviour. RIBA’s study noted that teachers and pupils generally reported that toilets with visible washing facilities or fully enclosed toilets with sinks inside individual cubicles, reduced misbehaviour. Likewise, evidence has shown that not getting the design right can facilitate bad behaviour, particularly where circulation spaces are not wide enough, leading to crowding and greater levels of reported misbehaviour in loos. Again, The Regis School serves as an excellent example of responding to this via design, with toilet facilities situated just off the main dining space with open, visible wash areas. Unsurprisingly, behavioural incidents in this space have been dramatically reduced.
Corridors
When hundreds, if not, thousands of young people move around a school, between lessons or to their lunch break, a range of problems are created. Crowded corridors impede the flow of pupils around a school, creating bottlenecks that increase stress levels and can exacerbate behaviour problems. In addition to social problems, narrow crowded corridors also mean higher maintenance costs through faster wear and tear as pupils are pushed against surfaces, RIBA explain. It is reported that school designs which deliberately open up long, narrow corridors and hiding places, benefit from a positive impact on behaviour.
Good design, explain RIBA in their Better Spaces for Learning study, is about creating cost-effective environments that help drive up educational outcomes and enhance teacher-and-pupil-wellbeing, while limiting future running and maintenance costs. Many of the issues or ‘pain points’ outlined here can be addressed, even eradicated, through smart, practical design improvements.
For any new building, the role of the design team is to form a comprehensive understanding of the building’s purpose; designing for the practical needs and wellbeing of the people who will use it. At Streetspace, we work with schools to identify and relieve common ‘pain points’ such as those outlined above. That often means:
Innovative ZONE Design. Build solutions make it easier than ever to add flexible, high-quality spaces to truly enhance a school’s provision and offering. Unlike traditional bricks-and-mortar builds, ZONE extensions offer zero upfront design fees, faster delivery time, reduced overall project costs and the flexibility to encompass and integrate existing school buildings.
A perfect example of this in action is The Regis School (TRS), a large secondary academy in Bognor Regis with nearly 1,600 students. The school faced a growing challenge common in many schools; outdated dining infrastructure that was no longer fit for purpose. With a dining hall capacity limited to just 400 pupils, lunchtimes had become crowded, stressful and logistically difficult to manage. Bottlenecks, noise and a lack of space created an environment which contributed to increased behavioural issues and negatively impacted wellbeing of staff and pupils.
Recognising the pressing need for change, Streetspace worked closely with the school to fully understand user needs. The team was engaged to deliver a tailored design and build solution to address capacity and student experience. Interestingly, Director of Business at the school, Mark Betts, explained to our team that his vision for the changes to dining at TRS, were inspired by his early career experience of working with McDonald’s. The result, a spacious ZONE building extension with multiple service points, now enables all 1,600 pupils to move through lunchtime service in a remarkable 22 minutes.
Every stage of the design process was rooted in the team’s expert understanding that efficient and optimised design of the built environment, would dramatically impact the overall offering at the school.
A key feature contributing to the improved behaviour at TRS, was also the integrated WC facilities, located just off the main space. By eliminating hidden, unsupervised areas, these facilities have reduced loitering and misuse, contributing to a notable drop in behavioural incidents during break and lunch times.
For The Regis School, this project has not only solved a practical problem, it has fundamentally improved the school day experience; a clear example of how thoughtful school design does have a direct impact on behaviour and learning.
