The comprehensive objective of the study in hand, is to demonstrate that
various new concepts must govern the educational planning and utilization
of physical facilities at primary schools, if of course the educational
system is to utilize global reforms in education. In this context, it is a
requisite to examine the forces and events that are now initiating one of
the most restive periods in the history of educational practice and to
analize the present prospects as well as the prognoses of the basic philosophies
on which these reforms are based.
Another aim of the study is to give substance to the thesis that these
innovations in pedagogic outlook and procedure, call for corresponding
structural changes in the schools. Fortunately there are already a number
of educational leaders, headmasters, as well as their deputies, teachers
and even architects, that realize the necessity of expending time and
resources on the problem of how educational personnel and the process
of education may best invite improvement in this regard. Consequently
this is motivating a new movement in some countries to plan instructional
areas that will enable the schools to offer a more creative atmosphere for
educational activities. Most particularly, an awakening concern among
educators respecting the planning an utilization of school buildings, may
encourage those concerned, to forsake the sterile format which conceives
learning spaces to be a conglomerate of ruggedly built containers for
sharp classes - a veritable warren of uniform boxes readily adaptable to
standardized maintenance and devoid of the influence of any aesthetic
considerations.
On the contrary, it can be debated that former criteria for judging the
eventual value of educational edifices no longer suffice: the life expectancy
of floors of unyielding concrete, the bare economy of upkeep which
may bar all other considerations or the stark aspects of monotonous
similarity in appearance resulting from unimaginative planning. While the
utilitarian factor of the initial cost per square meter or per capita may
govern applications of the theory in practice, it still follows that educational facilities should assert a distinctive conception of design that is
compatible with its function, and ought to detach itself from rigid,
stereotyped patterns associated with conventional instructional space.
New methods of planning learning areas must be adopted which cater to
wider ranges of groups engaged in diverse educational activities. The
present matrix for learning space is clearly static. To be brief, efficient
design has evidently been judged by purely mundane standards separate
from psychological, cultural or significant educational developments.
The crux of the matter is that the design of educational facilities is
lagging far behind current advances in education. To put the proposed
architectural revisions in perspective, it is necessary to weigh the components
that now affect educational reformation; to consider the aims,
values and methods that epitomize these reforms, and finally, to suggest
how physical facilities might evolve in keeping pace with developments
in education both on the local scene and throughout the world. In fact,
rapid changes in education can scarcely keep pace with procedures requiring
considerable time; they will accordingly move ahead of planning,
financing contracting, constructing and furnishing of physical facilities.
The challenges now inherent in the rapidity of technological changes introduces
the schools today to a vexing impasse. Their planners attempt
to anticipate the contingencies which can occur in educational areas which
had not been finalized, and which have not been subjected to adequate
research. In the course of the study in hand, an attempt is made to
confront this problem through the establishment of ideological goals that
may satisfy the demands of a modern school building in the light of
concepts oriented to individual needs.
Consequently the inquiry included the users of physical facilities i.e.
the teachers, in order to obtain their viewpoints regarding the educational
planning and utilization of school buildings. The investigation was
lanched by means of questionnaires sent to 300 teachers at 60 different
primary schools. The opinions of the respondents were compared on the
following basis:
* teachers in managerial posts (principals and departmental heads)
versus,
* teachers in ordinary teaching posts,
* Afrikaans speaking teachers versus,
* English speaking teachers,
* male teachers versus, and
* female teachers.
Relevant conclusions derived from the analysis can be summarized as
follows:
* the media centre in the primary school should be on the ground
floor, closely linked with other classrooms, be a large area that can
be subdivided by means of panels and be accessible during all school
hours,
* there is no doubt that teachers have a need to render suggestions
on an organised basis in all the stages of the planning and construction
of new school buildings,
* the architectural quality and appearance of a school building influences
the quality of work and performance of teachers who work in
it,
* the educational utilization of a school building is dependent upon
the managerial abilities of the principal,
* the movement of pupils through classrooms, has a negative effect
on the teaching process,
* teachers agree that a school building is economically utilized when
only teachers use it and when it's used after school for adult education.
(Teachers are not in favour of the fact that school buildings
are used as a community centre),
* a compactly planned school building, can further educational aims,
if it is more economical, is of a more acceptable design, provides
the possibility of the media centre being more centrally situated,
provides partly covered areas as well as quiet areas which can be
of great use,
* most teachers are in favour of compactly planned school buildings,
* the conventional classroom is effective with regard to classical
teaching and instruction and the utilization thereof,
* the conventional classroom is not effective with regard to the use
of teaching aids, group teaching, individual working space for pupils
and the planning thereof,
* the following educational principles figurate in the classroom
the fact that pupils differ as far as aptitude and ability are
concerned
that social and emotional influences also influence the child’s
ability to learn,
that mental development takes place by means of thinking,
reasoning and discovering - especially personal discoveries.
* every classroom should be provided with a permanent over-head
projector, handy screen, caramat, record player, tape recorder with
ear phones, washbasin with running water, space for group instruction,
room for individual instruction, storage space for apparatus
and teaching aids, and adjustable panels for partitioning.
Based on the findings of the research, it is recommended that physical
facilities for primary schools should be planned in such a way that provision
is inter alia made for the following:
* the media centre should be on the ground floor and in the centre
of the buildings,
* utilization of the building for more than one purpose,
* the suggestions of teachers and pupils should be taken into account.
Furthermore it is recommended that existing school buildings be adjusted
according to the former criteria.
Finally a model (see Figure 6.1) based on all the relevant planning criteria,
is suggested. / Proefskrif (DEd)--PU vir CHO, 1986
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/9379 |
| Date | January 1986 |
| Creators | Van Niekerk, Johannes Hermanes Sagaria |
| Publisher | Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | other |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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