Across Europe there are excellent examples of built environment education, showcasing the way that young people can learn through buildings and spaces.
Students from Pinewood Infants School in Farnborough playing on their wooden adventure play area © Ashley Bingham and Mark Ellis, A&M Photography
As in the UK, school grounds are promoted as areas where innovative learning and play can take place outside the confines of the classroom.
Gruen macht Schule is an educational organisation that works to engage schools, young people and the wider community with their surroundings. They argue that school grounds can expand the educational vision of a school and reinforce a positive ethos. As Georg Coenen of Grüen macht Schule says, ‘Participation in the planning and design of spaces is an excellent way to promote learning’.
Gruen macht Schule offers:
- a local advisory service for school grounds projects
- a wide range of resources and materials to support the design of outdoor spaces
- strategic advice on play for children and young people.
A model for natural play
Flaeming-Schule is located in the west of Berlin. It has been hailed as offering an excellent model of school grounds design and of participatory approaches for play design. With a remit to teach the core curriculum and an extended curriculum, the school has a long history of public engagement and community involvement.
Gruen macht Schule worked with the Flaeming-Schule and its wider community to turn what was once a vast expanse of Tarmac into a creative playground with multi-functional spaces. They have made excellent use of sand, water and bordered areas so that natural play becomes integral to learning and relaxation.
A playground in Berlin © CABE/Nicole Collomb
The design of the grounds was carefully planned with Gruen macht Schule to accommodate a very wide range of abilities, allowing children to play within their limits but to stretch themselves when they are ready. One of the successes of the space is that it has the flexibility to be used in many different ways and offers opportunities for risk and challenge.
When planning and designing new school grounds, it is essential that students are involved in each phase of the project, from initial planning to helping create an authentic learning experience out of the classroom.
Schools grounds and risk
One of the notable features of the school grounds seen in Berlin is that young people are exposed to risk though the planning and design process. They are able to climb, use tools such as chisels and saws, and play unsupervised. This is fundamental to the principles that underpin the work of Grüen macht Schule. Being exposed to dealing with issues of risk is seen as a benefit of designing school grounds with young people.
