Designing an outdoor learning environment for and with a primary school community: a case study in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

In Bangladesh, school grounds are usually barren areas devoid of any designed features. This study explored children’s, teachers’ and parents’ views of what would constitute an effective school ground for learning, socialising and playing at primary schools in rural Bangladesh. Working within the theory of behaviour settings to design school grounds, several methods were applied: focus groups with children, teachers and parents, a drawing session with children and a child-led/teacher supported model-making workshop. The results suggest that children want to connect with nature, to explore their environment, to challenge themselves, to be physically active and to socialise with friends. They also wanted their school ground to be more attractive. The parents highly valued gardening whereas teachers preferred an area with loose materials where the children could learn by themselves. None of these ideas were mutually exclusive and the subsequent design was able to incorporate elements from all groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Primary school ground
• children’s preferences
• learning
• loose materials
• teachers’ views
• affordances
• behaviour settings

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Dariabandha is a court game involving two groups of players. The court is drawn on the ground where each of the players from one group stand inside the court and try to stop the players from the opposite group from passing through.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Principal Career Development Fellowship, the University of Edinburgh; Charles Wallace Bangladesh Trust; Global Research Fellowship, the University of Edinburgh.