Adapted education in different school architecture

Abstract

In this article I have made an inquiry into different teachers’ experiences with, perceptions about and preferences regarding two different types of school architecture. The article is based on observation and interviews with seven teachers. Three of these teachers worked in an open-plan school (baseskole), while the other four worked in a school with traditional classrooms. The teachers told stories about the connection between the school architecture and the possibilities they felt they had for teaching according to their own pedagogical views. They pointed out three central areas that were of importance for this connection. All of these areas can be seen in the light of the expression: adapted education. The first area was regarding the type of differentiation that was considered to be the starting point for adapted education at the school, and how the physical structures in the school correlated with the chosen type of differentiation and organizing that were put to use there. Regarding this area, the teachers from both schools were very satisfied.  A second area of importance was the actual access to teaching space as a starting point for using different teaching strategies and methods. Regarding this area, the teachers from the traditional school were very satisfied, while the teachers from the open-plan school felt the rooms they had for teaching sat limitations upon different aspects of their teaching practices. The last area the teachers pointed their fingers at, was how the physical structures made possible a desired balance between close collaboration with colleagues and autonomy in situations regarding planning and teaching. The teachers from both schools were pretty satisfied regarding this area, but they had different preferences to how this balance should be.