Research

School Design

School Design

This project aims to identify key design requirements for schools to enable them to become learning and development hubs for communities.

Working through school case studies in Ghana and South Africa, it has aimed to identify the key successful design and planning characteristics that led to good child learning outcomes.

The aim is to produce country-specific local school design guides, as well as a comparative report on school design and academic papers relating to the project findings.

 

Research and key findings

The research surveyed nine schools in detail, six in South Africa and three in Ghana, to find out whether links could be made between ‘good' school design and improved educational performance.

Emerging findings included that both countries had well-developed primary school feeding programmes that had led to modification or new construction of school buildings. Research looked at what infrastructure was required for adequate sanitation in schools, and at ways to alleviate the classroom overcrowding usual in most urban schools. The research also concluded that shared space for after-school learning was more valuable than dedicated ICT space and infrastructure which became rapidly outdated.

Lead contact details

Nwola Uduku, Edinburgh College of Art, o.uduku@eca.ac.uk

Research team

Lead researcher: Nwola Uduku, Edinburgh College of Art, UK

Other researchers:

  • Mathramuthu Pillay, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
  • George Oduro, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
  • Jeremy Gibberd, CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa
  • George Intsiful, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana