Benjamin Cleveland’s research while affiliated with University of Melbourne and other places

Education at all levels is being transformed, impacting teaching methods, materials, and the physical learning environment. Over recent years, efforts have been made to align school architecture with contemporary educational practices to create stimulating and responsive teaching and learning environments. In this context, Evidence-Based Design (EBD) is an important source of scientific knowledge that can be applied to the design process, while the pattern language developed by Alexander et al. (A pattern language: Towns, buildings, construction, Oxford University Press, 1977) has been at the forefront of translating design information into a design method based on Design Patterns (DPs) for the past 50 years. This study applied these concepts, when undertaking a scoping review of the literature that gathered EBD information related to school buildings, with an emphasis on middle schools. The insights gained were subsequently transformed into 15 architectural DPs with aligned graphical representations, with the intention of supporting improved school design processes. The collection and organisation of evidence-based information undertaken in this study are anticipated to help to guide the production of better school buildings—appropriate to their context—through the translation of evidence-based insights into informative graphical and textual language.

This article reviews the literature on the evaluation of inclusive school environments. It adopts a socio-spatial perspective to explore what the literature says about the spatial/environmental factors that may influence the participation of learners with disabilities in learning and in the life of their school. Despite increased international attention towards inclusivity in schools over recent decades, research into how the physical environment can contribute to meeting the needs of all learners remains limited. Nevertheless, the review revealed four thematic clusters relating to the impact of the physical environment on the inclusion of learners with disabilities in schools. These included environmental performance, sensory factors/qualities, participation, and design process.