by Rebecca Walker — July 26 2010—A study of the relationship between school buildings and learning shows that facilities management is important to education.
Dr Ilfryn Price, Professor of Facilities Management at Sheffield Business School at Sheffield Hallam University in the U.K., assessed the opinions of students at two schools, one in in a state of disrepair and the other newly-constructed. They were near each other and of similar size, but students in the new school technology was embraced.
“Both schools used interactive whiteboards,” Price said. “However, in the school in need of repair, pupils saw them as a waste of money, while in the new school, technology was embraced.”
Price acknowledged that an exact correlation between a well designed school and grades is hard to reach.
“The interesting thing was that not only was there an improvement in GCSE and A-levels when the new school opened, but when the old school, which had an equally inspirational headteacher, announced that it was going to be modernized there was a similar rise.”
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