Teachers' Assessments of Primary School Buildings: the role of the physical environment in education

How and what do British primary school teachers think about the buildings in which they work? Do they believe that these buildings influence the education that children receive? This paper contains a limited but detailed attempt to answer these two questions. This is presented by reporting linked case studies of the views expressed by teachers in ten widely differing school buildings in one particular local education authority. These views are discussed against a background of cuts in educational expenditure which have resulted, not least, in reduced maintenance to primary school premises. It is concluded that the teachers investigated tend to see themselves as poorly served by the physical environments in which they are asked to practise their teaching skills. Some of them believe that inadequacies in their environments are detrimental to education. For those who hold it, this belief may be self‐fulfilling.