The School Environment

The following topics and issues are covered in this chapter:

• how the school environment impacts on pedagogy;
• primary school buildings today;
• the way in which the organization of furniture, display and resources in a classroom facilitates or constrains different approaches to teaching and learning;
• the playground environment as an important factor in children's school experience; and
• the implications of virtual learning environments for schools of the future.

When walking into a school building as an adult, most of us do not take long to be reminded of our own school experience as children. The smells, sights, sounds, tastes and feelings of school are things which stay with us long after we have left. Yet for teachers, it may be that that there seems to be little ...