Trained and untrained children explore school spaces in Albania: assessment and participation in children’s well-being

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study focuses on evaluating school spaces with children’s participation, aiming to learn its impact on children’s well-being and their involvement in school design. The study uses data from a visual and a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) questionnaire, conducted with randomly selected (N = 92) untrained children (age 10–14) and another group (N = 25) trained earlier in several participatory workshops. The first questionnaire asks both groups to evaluate international examples of innovative school buildings. The second is a POE of the involved children’s school building. The primary objective is to examine the evaluation of both groups and their preferences about school spaces. The questionnaires showed that children focus on specific school spaces, whereas visuals encourage them to think holistically. Girls and younger children from both groups are more expressive, meanwhile all trained children exhibit positive social interaction. When evaluating their school, trained children’s fairness is significantly higher than the untrained group. Insights collected help drive change in school management and design. The study suggests using both a visual questionnaire and POE with trained and untrained children as complementary tools to provide a comprehensive and reliable method to collect information about school design. Systematic involvement of children positively affects their well-being.