Thematic Review: School Design and Learning Environments in the City of Espoo, Finland

This report presents the main findings and recommendations resulting from a review of education infrastructure investments in the city of Espoo, Finland, carried out by the CEB’s Technical Assessment & Monitoring Directorate. The objective of the review was to examine the links between school design and learning environments. The report provides Espoo officials with recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness of the education investment and identifies good practices that could be shared with other countries. The City of Espoo and the Finnish education system are internationally recognised as top performers for learning outcomes and one of the most equitable. However, rapid population growth, increasing numbers of children and foreign-language residents, and general tightening of the public budget pose challenges to service delivery just at a time when education infrastructure is expected to adapt to new learning curricula. Notwithstanding these challenges, the commitment to education remains very high on the part of all the stakeholders met in the city of Espoo. This commitment is reflected in the strategy for the City, the continuous financial support provided to the sector over the years, and the deep value and trust placed in their highly educated teachers. The eight schools visited by the review team already reflect some elements of the vision promoted by the new curriculum introduced in 2017, including the presence of differently sized learning spaces, heightened transparency and increased flexibility. The average learning space per child tends to be more generous than in other countries, given the use of spaces such as corridors and common areas for learning activities. The review team identified a series of key themes to encourage further discussion and exploration by Espoo teachers and city officials in their search for effective strategies to guide investments in the education sector. These include: • the need to find the right balance between cost-effectiveness and the promotion of effective learning environments; • the value of systematically involving the school community in the design process; • the importance of providing the necessary support for teachers to transition into new learning environments, by developing and implementing an Effective Spatial Professional Development programme. Ultimately, the effectiveness of any investment depends on how well it is used. In this regard, international research is unanimous in identifying teachers as the factor that correlates most strongly with student achievement. Thus, as part of any build, investing in teachers’ effective use of spaces must be a priority and an important component in the budgeting process

Global teacher recruitment as a challenge to the goal of universal primary education

The second of the Millennium Goals agreed to by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000 was universal, high-quality primary education for all children. The inclusion of universal primary education is a recognition that education plays a crucial role in the alleviation of poverty and the promotion of peace and security; however, the UN Millennium Project team estimates that there are more than 100 million primary age children not attending school for a variety of reasons (UN Millennium Project 2005). In most cases their families are too poor to afford the costs involved, in many cases their labour or their income is needed at home, in others there is no school available, but increasingly children are prevented from attaining full primary education because there are insufficient teachers to staff schools adequately (see also Zajda et al. 2008). The implications of the projected shortage are very serious as an inability to provide appropriate education will prevent many of the poorest nations from implementing poverty reduction strategies and exacerbate the gap between the developed and less-developed nations (Zajda 2005). Moreover, as poverty increases social and political instabilities are likely to increase as the most vulnerable citizens of the poorest nations see any hope of a solution to their distress receding