OECD showcases innovative school and college buildings

15/06/2006 - Well designed school and university facilities can improve the quality of education and raise attainment levels. Exciting buildings with flexible working areas, good social spaces and easy access can also increase community involvement.

That is the message from the OECD’s PEB Compendium of Exemplary Educational Facilities: 3rd Edition which presents 65 innovative and recently built or renovated spaces with colour photographs, plans and descriptions. The Compendium brings together case studies from 20 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The institutions featured cover all levels of education – from pre-school through tertiary – and exemplify the following:

• How the design, use and management of physical infrastructure can effectively meet the needs of its users: students, teachers, parents and society at large.
• How the principle of flexibility – necessary to accommodate an ever-increasing range of teaching and learning scenarios and technologies – is incorporated into the design of the facility.
• How environmentally-friendly features and materials are used to create a comfortable and sustainable learning environment.
• How design can ensure the safety and security of its occupants.
• How alternative financing mechanisms such as public-private partnerships can contribute to good management and planning.

Journalists are invited to attend the launch event organised by School Works with support from the United Kingdom’s Department for Education and Skills on 19 June 2006. For further details, contact Ty Goddard at School Works, London, United Kingdom, tel.: +44 845 456 1803, e-mail: ty@school-works.org

Journalists may obtain this publication from the OECD Media Relations Division (tel. + 33 1 45 24 97 00).

For further information, please contact Richard Yelland in the OECD Programme on Educational Building (PEB), Paris, France, tel.: +33 1 45 24 92 60.

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PEB Compendium of Exemplary Educational Facilities: 3rd Edition
ISBN 92-64-02229-5
www.oecd.org/edu/facilities/compendium