Clever classrooms : Summary report of the HEAD project

Barrett, PS; Zhang, Y; Davies, F; Barrett, LC

Abstract

Based on the results of the HEAD Project (Holistic Evidence and Design), funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, clear evidence has been found that well-designed primary schools boost children’s academic performance in reading, writing and maths. Differences in the
physical characteristics of classrooms explain 16% of the variation in learning progress over a year for the 3766 pupils included in the study. Or to make this more tangible, it is estimated that the impact of moving an ‘average’ child from the least effective to the most effective space would be around 1.3 sub-levels, a big impact when pupils typically make 2 sub-levels progress a year.

This report summarises and illustrates the design and practice implications for architects and designers.

Citation

Barrett, P., Zhang, Y., Davies, F., & Barrett, L. (2015). Clever classrooms : Summary report of the HEAD project

• Report Type: Project Report
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jun 16, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781907842634
• Keywords: School design, impacts on learning, illustrated guidance, teachers, designers, architects
• Publisher URL: http://ow.ly/Jz2vV
• Additional Information: Funders : Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC);Nightingale Associates; Grant Number: EP/J015709/1