School Design and Procurement and Educational Goals: A Qualitative Case Study of Two Australian Schools

Abstract

Rapid population growth in Australia requires extensive new school infrastructure. This qualitative case study of two Australian government schools investigated implications for educational goals of differing school design and procurement approaches (public private partnerships (PPP) and state managed). Key findings: (i) primary challenges in providing school facilities were budgetary and time pressures in the face of ever-growing student populations; (ii) differences arose between PPP and non-PPP procurement regarding communication and management of school facilities; (iii) both school buildings appeared constrained by prescriptive design guidelines; and (iv) products of both design and procurement processes appeared to affect educational goals for intellectual, physical, social and emotional wellbeing.