Architecture, a key element in educational innovation

Abstract

Pedagogical regeneration is a demand, which is more and more present in schools, and how schools are configurated has a lot to do with this. The present article offers a reflection on how important educational spaces are in the process of learning-teaching from the combination of three disciplines: architecture, pedagogy and enviromental psychology. The overview of the space-educational pairing shows us an approximation to the distinction between occupying and inhabiting (Heidegger, 1954) with the aim of giving relevance to the implications that environmental factors exercise over education.

Following on from this, a short categorisation of the educational spaces is carried out from an architectural point of view. It is related to its pedagogical potential and with the learning channels which favour each space. It includes a brief example of reflection and intervention experiences which some schools are carrying out in order to show different ways that improve learning spaces.

This article concludes with a call for dialog between the different protagonists implicated in the configuration of learning spaces: teachers and architects. The former have to define and transmit the pedagogical necessities, the latter have to create effective spaces and physical environments in the school. These spaces should be inviting and contribute to the necessary conditions that allow learning growth.