RETHINKING EDUCATIONAL SPACES: INVESTIGATING SCHOOL CLIMATE TO INCREASE

CHILDREN INTEREST FOR SCHOOL

Tan Mei Shan1 and Dr. Roslina Sharif2

1 Master
of Architecture Student, 2Advisor
Architecture Department, Faculty of Design and Architecture, University Putra Malaysia (UPM),
43400, Serdang, Selangor D.E., Malaysia

Email: 1 michelletms93@gmail.com
2 roslina_sh@upm.edu.my

ABSTRACT

In Malaysia, majority of dropout students come from poor family background. A study has shown that
72% of the parents gave the reason of those children dropping out from school is due to lack of
interest for school. Physical environment of the school has great influence in student’s academic
performances. Education spaces with specific features such as building age, climate control, indoor
air quality, lighting, acoustical control, design classifications and overall impression which is related to
human comfort has shown to be related to student’s achievement. School physical environment
influence children’s happiness and readiness to learn or become the opposite which is the lost of
interest for school. Students are quick to sense the learning environment through expressing the
attitude positive and negative ways. A student will excel in studies when the student possess high
motivation with a positive attitude towards the learning environment. The research helps the teacher
and parents to understand further about an ideal learning environment as well as to pre-detect the
signs and symptoms of the children’s with at risk dropout behaviour.

Keywords: dropout, school physical environment, learning environment

INTRODUCTION

In Malaysia, majority of dropout students come from poor family background. A study has
shown that 72% of the parents gave the reason of those children dropping out from school is due to
lack of interest for school. Above all, out of 108 parents which constitute the 72%, there are 63 who
think that additional academic aid is needed to support the children. (Patel, T. 2014). It is impossible
for the parents to afford any other extra expenses for education as majority of them are from B40
category. The parents’ salary is not enough to support for the children and this resulted in children
poverty especially in the urban area. Further reading shows that the living condition of the urban poor
children is not comfortable where there is lack of space for studies (The STAR, 2018). Report from
the news found that children tend to skip meal for the parents could not afford the children basic
meals. This scenario is also supported with the research which has been carried out by United
Nations Children's Fund recently that children who are living in urban area are actually living in the
situation of lack of nutrition (UNICEF, 2018). This affect children’s level of interest for school and it

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cannot be ignored as every children deserves the right to education. How children live today
determine the lives of tomorrow. In order to break the cycle of poverty, education is the only key to
improve the social development.

MAIN CONTEXTS OF DROPOUT

Dropout means students who are studying in the current year and no longer enrolled in studies for the
next following year. Quitting school and classes before finishing the whole courses that has been
predefined is also termed as dropout. A dropout is generally defined as “someone who has not
graduated from, or is not currently enrolled in full time, state approved education programme.”
(Rumberger 1987).

Figure 1 Three main contexts associated with school dropout risk (Fortin et al. 2005)
The total development of dropout risk emphasizes on the importance of behavioral problems and
learning difficulties, while both depression and the family along with classroom environments also
carries the factors affecting the at risk dropout. Many family structural problems with little gain in
emotional support from their parents reported to be a related risk for students dropping out of from the
schools system. Majority of the at risk dropout are born from poor and grown up in broken homes or
single-parent family structure (Pong & Ju, 2000; Walker et al., 1998). Parenting skills, parents’ support
to the students, active involvement in children’s school activities and supervision to the students has
become the factor that will lead to an at risk dropout student if it is poorly managed. Another strong
reasons that lead to dropout achievement predicted by Jimerson et al. (2000) are contributed by the
quality of the family environment and parenting skills applied to the child. The factor that constitutes
the most to the at risk dropout is the improper behaviour due to the lack of social skills development

TYPOLOGY OF AT RISK DROPOUT

Uninterested type of at risk dropout displays the least personal, family and school problems. The
major issues are concerning the lack of interest in school where the students loses the motivation to
study. The theory of motivation is classified into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic is where it
comes from personal interest while extrinsic is doing something for the rewards. More motivational
effort is needed to lift up the mind and soul of the at risk dropout. The Antisocial Covert Behavior
subgroup exhibit improper behaviour where the teacher might missed observed. These group of
students has the least parental control (Fortin et al. 2005). The term Antisocial Covert behavior
adapted from Loeber, Wung, Keenan, Giroux, Stouthamer-Loeber, Van Kammen, & Maughan, B.
(1993) which was used to define this type of students, most of the reported students’ improper
behaviour are telling lies, fighting individually or in a gang, stealing, vandalism, breaking and illegal
entering. These group of students are having great sign of depression with reported behaviour such
as sadness, easily discouraged and many times failure. For students belonging to the School and
Social Adjustment Difficulties type, students face learning difficulties in the classrooms. Bad
impression also formed from the teacher to these students which fall under the category of these
group. Teachers termed these students as unstable performance in school, slow in learning progress,
disobedient and uncooperative. The fourth subgroup is depressive. This subgroup do not show

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behavioral problems externally and the academic performance is good. However, this group may
exhibit pessimistic behavior such as sadness, low in self-esteem, anti-social, hard to focus, no longer
interested in usual activities, sleep deprived, and suicidal thoughts. This group experience the most
problematic family situation. Responds from the students including unable to rely on support from
their family members and facing communication problems with parents (Fortin et al. 2005). This
research can be a guide for the parents and the teachers in identifying the potential at risk dropout as
early as primary age by understanding the children’s behaviour which exhibited.

Figure 2 Typology of at risk dropout students (Fortin et al. 2005)

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND MOTIVATION

Learning environment affects the emotion of the learner and indirectly affects the motivation. Positive
learning environment is the stress relieved for a student, ease the students in completing the school
works and help in the logical thinking aspects. A research study was done by involving one hundred
and sixty-five Georgia Schools found that students perform better in modern learning environment
while show the lowest achievement in obsolete learning environment. Students are quick to sense the
learning environment through expressing the attitude positive and negative ways. A student will excel
in studies when the student possess high motivation with a positive attitude towards the learning
environment. (Chan, T.C. 1996)
A good learning environment evokes a powerful sense of attachment to that place that will enhance
learning process. This emotional attachment helps to connect the students to the places where the
students love to learn and where the learning experience is kept as memories. (Graetz, K. A. 2006). A
person’s motivation is greatly affected by thoughts and emotion. Motivation can be described as want
or wish that pushes a person to get started in doing something. (Lawson C. 2002). A child’s
motivation is directly affected by the learning environment that has been designed. The school
principal should enhance the school by giving the best learning place that the children need for
schooling.

PHYSICAL ASPECT OF SCHOOL CLIMATE

There is no single definition about school climate. Many researchers adopt the terminology in many
different ways, for instance atmosphere of the school, feeling of the school, school setting or milieu of

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the school. (Freiberg, 1999; Homana, Barber, & Torney-Purta, 2006; Tagiuri, 1968). Above all, some
writers argue that it can be defined as subjective or objective aspect of school life. According to
National School Climate Center (Piscatelli J., Lee C. & J.D. 2011), school climate refers to the quality
and characteristics of a school life. It is more towards norms, goals, values, interpersonal
relationships, teaching and learning practices, and organizational structures, it is subjective based.
Educators have discovered the importance of school climate since hundred years ago (Perry, 1908).
One of the aspects of school climate that researchers have studied is the physical aspect. It includes
the appearance of the school building and its classrooms, school size and ratio of students to
teachers in the classroom, order and organization of classrooms in the school, availability of
resources, and safety and comfort. (Walters S., 2015) A school should strive to form smaller learning
communities as a way to improve the learning environment (Cotton, 2001). Small learning community
is defined as any separately defined, individualized learning unit within a larger school setting.
Students and teachers are scheduled together and frequently have a common area of the school in
which to hold most or all of their classes (Sammon, 2000). It can also refers to small high schools as
those with less than 400 pupils enrolled (Roellke, 1996). Numbers greater than 900 are generally
considered large high schools. Howley, Strange, & Bickel (2000) put it in the report of their multi-state
studies of school size in impoverished communities found that small schools reduced the negative
effects of poverty “by between 20 and 70 percent, and usually by 30 to 50 percent, depending on
grade level”. Understanding the basic aspects of a school physical environment is important as
learning environment affect the emotion of the students.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOOL DESIGN

Figure 3 Three primary physical characteristics of school design which influence learning: naturalness, classroom design,
and stimulation

Physical environment of the school has great influence in student’s academic performances.
Education spaces with specific features such as building age, climate control, indoor air quality,
lighting, acoustical control, design classifications and overall impression which is related to human
comfort has shown to be related to student’s achievement. (Cherkowski K. & Walker K., 2018). In
terms of air temperature and quality, the two most important individual building elements found to
affect student achievement were temperature control and air quality (Earthman, 2004). Natural
lighting play an important role in delivering positive effect on student outcome due to the biological
effect of natural lighting on human body (Heschong Mahone Group, 1999; Wurtman, 1975). A good
acoustically controlled educational space needs to avoid exposure to chronic noise as it will prevent
cognitive functioning and reading skills. (Haines et al., 2001). All these comprise of almost half of the
learning impact of a children. Classroom design and stimulation comprise about a quarter of the
learning impact. (Materials, 2018). Other design aspect such as good circulation of the spaces,
positive outdoor spaces, conducive meeting spaces, good neighborhood, good ingress and egress of
the institution, technology assistance for the teachers, choices of colors of the surrounding should be
appropriate for learning. (Tanner, 2008). A school design should strive to achieve the concept of close
to nature for it is the key influence to achieving a high performance of the school.

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CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the typology of at risk dropout falls between the three contexts of dropout. In
architecture aspects, school physical environment is important to control the students’ behaviour
because learning environment influence the emotion, this emotion is the key to the students’
motivation and interest for study. School physical environment influence children’s happiness and
readiness to learn or become the opposite which is the lost of interest for school. The research helps
the teacher and parents to understand further about an ideal learning environment as well as to pre-
detect the signs and symptoms of the children’s with at risk dropout behaviour. A well designed
school environment is very crucial in determining the performance of the students. The real needs of
the learners are important in assisting the architecture design. New concept and design approach of
learning spaces can be proposed based on the outcome of the research. It can be the source of
inspiration and reference to the design architect.

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