Earlier this year, the Guardian published a story on the impact of urban decay on the behaviour of school students and the morale of teachers.  You can read the article here, and the blog post that stemmed from it.  For more detail, you can read the report itself (produced by the teacher’s union).

It seems that the decline of a neighbourhood - represented by vandalism, graffitti, boarded up buildings, overflowing rubbish bins or anything that might be described as a “physical blight” - can lead to “poor behaviour, low self-esteem and little appetite for educational attainment.  Teachers may become disillusioned and frustrated with their limited ability to teach in a community where crime and incivility is rife.”

It must be said that the findings of the study are inconclusive.  But for some reason, my mind kept returning to this idea of a link between physical decay and learning and teaching.  Why is this story haunting me?  I look out my window:

What you see here is the beginning of Macquarie’s new library building.  This is expected to have a positive impact on student learning:

The new Learning and Research Centre represents a new generation of library design creating a learning and research centre full of dynamic, collaborative and open spaces for learning.

It will look something like this:

With completion due at the end of 2010, is it possible that the building site might have some impact on teaching and learning in the meantime?

Filed under: Engagement, Learning Environments, Miscellanea by Agnes Bosanquet