
This project is a collaboration between Denise Lengyel and Ahmed Kharrufa from Open Lab, and Pamela Woolner and Alison Whelan from the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University. It is funded by the UK government's Department for Education.
18 students from year 9-13 and teaching and technology staff at a local high school and middle school in the North East of England were involved in the study. They were interviewed, and took part in focus groups using map-based visual methods and drawing. Three digital methods were also trialled for gathering feedback (online questionnaires, PosterVote and Sticker Stories) at these schools, and two additional schools in the West Midlands.
This project helped us to learn what is important to students about outdoor space (their likes and dislikes) and which technologies the students would like to use when being asked about their opinion (individual, group-based /collaborative discussion, location-based). It also revealed the barriers and benefits of using such technologies in schools and how students engage with them.
What impact did it have?
A research report containing the findings from this project was published by the UK government’s Department for Education. It is called “Developing a method for obtaining pupil insight for Building in Use reviews: the use and value of external school space” and can be downloaded here. We also published two conference papers at ECER and BERA 2024, see below for more details.
- Woolner, Pamela, Ahmed Kharrufa, Denise Lengyel, Alison Whelan and Katherine Clements. Developing a method for obtaining pupil insight for Building in Use reviews: the use and value of external school space. Research Report. 2024. Published by the UK government's Department of Education
- Woolner, Pamela, Ahmed Kharrufa, Denise Lengyel, Alison Whelan and Katherine Clements. Using Digital Technologies to reveal Student Views of Outdoor School Space: Methodological and Ethical Possibilities and Uncertainties. European Conference on Educational Research ECER'24.
- Whelan, Alison, Pamela Woolner, Denise Lengyel and Ahmed Kharrufa. Using digital technologies to reveal student views of outdoor school space: methodological and ethical possibilities and uncertainties. British Educational Research Association conference BERA'24.