Tiny classrooms ‘cramping’ pupils’ ability to learn

CHILDREN in older schools are being cramped into tiny classrooms and have little scope for group learning as a result, research has found.

While the findings of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) will not be news to those in hundreds of primary classrooms that were built as long as a century ago, they have also examined the positive aspects of newer school designs.

For example, staff and pupils in a school built in the last decade were more satisfied than those in older schools about such things as the use of natural light and ventilation, flexibility in temperature control and lack of noise travelling between rooms. In older schools, however, it was found that noise between rooms could disrupt pupils’ concentration.