TECHNICAL GUIDANCE NOTE The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 1 © 2023 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved. This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the information included in this work. Nothing herein shall constitute or be considered to be a limitation on or waiver of the privileges and immunities of The World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved. 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Cover and interior design: Danielle Willis, Washington, DC, USA Contents Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................................... iv Abbreviations ....................................................................................................................................................v Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Objective ............................................................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction....................................................................................................................................................... 3 Physical Learning Environment Challenges for Safe Schools ................................................................... 7 Physical Learning Environment Strategies for Safe Schools ...................................................................... 9 1. PROMOTE INCLUSIVE PLEs .......................................................................................................................10 2. BUILD RESILIENT PLEs ..............................................................................................................................15 3. FOSTER LEARNING-ORIENTED PLEs .........................................................................................................19 4. ENSURE GREEN PLEs ................................................................................................................................23 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................... 26 Endnotes .......................................................................................................................................................... 27 The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | iii Acknowledgments The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools Guidance Note was led by Enrique Alasino and co-authored by Rebecca Laberenne. The Note benefitted from the inputs of the core team, which includes Jayanti Bhatia, Laura McDonald, and Manal Quota. Several colleagues including Diego Ambasz, Claire Chase, Cristobal Cobo, Fernando Ramirez Cortes, Natasha De Andrade Falcao, Carina Fonseca Ferreira, Ed Ramsay, Geoff Revell, Tigran Shmis, Mario Spiezio, Janssen Edelweiss Nunes Teixeira, and Kayiraba Toure provided insightful comments, feedback, and inputs. The team is grateful to Hafsa Alvi for her excellent research assistance. This Guidance Note is part of a series of products by the Safe Schools Team. Overall guidance for the development and preparation of the Safe Schools Practices guidance package was provided by Omar Arias (Former Practice Manager, Global Knowledge and Innovation Team), Halil Dundar (Practice Manager, Global Knowledge and Innovation Team), and Luis Benveniste (Global Director, Education, World Bank). This Guidance Note was designed by Danielle Willis. Amy Gautam was the chief copy editor for an earlier iteration of the note, while Laura McDonald assumed the role for the current edition. Janet Omobolanle Adebo and Patrick Biribonwa provided administrative support. Safe Schools | iv Abbreviations AN Approach Note CF carbon footprint CO carbon monoxide EMIS Education Management Information System FCV fragility, conflict, and violence  GFDRR Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery GHG greenhouse gas ICT information and communications technology IDB Inter-American Development Bank INEE Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies LMIC low- and middle-income country M&E monitoring and evaluation MHH menstrual health and hygiene OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development   PLE physical learning environment   T&L teaching and learning   TLM teaching and learning material UNESCO United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund WASH water, sanitation, and hygiene   The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | v Executive Summary School safety is critical for positive student, teacher, and school-level outcomes. Schools are safe when all students, teachers, and staff can thrive in a welcoming environment that supports learning, health and well-being, and positive relationships. Promoting school safety should consider both the physical and remote spaces in which education takes place as well as other non-tangible aspects of the school and learning environment, such as norms and values. School safety comprises five main characteristics—each of which can impact and should be considered in promoting the safety of students, teachers, and the overall teaching and learning (T&L) environment. The characteristics include physical safety, mental health and well-being, instructional practices and environment, interactions and relationships, and school connectedness. Safe and inclusive schools are 1 of the 5 pillars of the World Bank’s vision for the future of learning and a key aspect of learning recovery efforts. The COVID-19 pandemic amplified the importance of student and teacher safety. Education systems should take steps to adopt a whole-and-beyond-the- school approach to address risks to school safety. Safe Schools is the World Bank’s program to assist governments to design and implement sustainable safe school policies and practices. A review of global guidance on how to support and sustain safe school policies and practices identified three key steps, which are outlined in the Approach Note (AN): Global Guidance for Supporting and Sustaining Safe Schools. The steps are to (1) diagnose risks to school safety, (2) design and implement safe school strategies, and (3) monitor and evaluate school safety (figure 1). Step 1: Diagnose risks to school safety by identifying local, regional, or national factors that can influence safety. Step 1 recognizes that school safety can be influenced by various factors including the country or regional context; community norms; and the relationships among and between schools, students, and teachers. School safety also can be influenced by unexpected shocks from natural hazards including those exacerbated by climate change, epidemics, or pandemics. Moreover, the local context can influence the physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being as well as the growth of an individual. Step 1 outlines the critical factors that can be assessed—looking at the country, regional, and/or school levels and provides guidance on how to assess safety levels. Step 2: Design and implement safe school strategies which incorporate both universal and targeted supports, based on global evidence and experiences, to promote and improve school safety. Universal supports for safe schools encompass aspects that affect the entire school and its community, including (a) management practices, (b) T&L practices, and (c) the physical learning environment (PLE). Available evidence highlights these three aspects as key levers for promoting school safety. Alone, however, they are not sufficient to address all safety risks. Therefore, targeted supports are also essential; these are designed to address more specific or significant needs and are often implemented along with universal supports using a tiered approach. Step 2 lays out practical, evidence-based strategies for promoting school safety and implementing these supports along with relevant country case studies. Step 3: Monitor school safety and evaluate interventions to adapt supports to changing needs. The AN provides a brief overview of global monitoring and evaluation (M&E) practices in the context of school safety. It includes country case studies that correspond to the programs described in step 2 to maintain coherence and demonstrate the full project cycle. This approach serves to underscore the methods by which educational systems can conduct M&E of their safety interventions. This step is complemented by the Measuring School Safety presentation (PPT), which provides guidance on how education systems can diagnose risks, monitor safety, and evaluate safe school practices/ interventions. The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 1 This Guidance Note is part of the Safe Schools Practices guidance package and builds on the PLE strategies presented in the AN (figure 1). This Note provides additional details, resources, and country case studies that offer richer details on why and how countries have employed safe school strategies. The package includes: • The chapeau Approach Note (AN): Global Guidance for Supporting and Sustaining Safe Schools, which describes a three-step process (including examples and resources) for addressing school safety risks. • Technical Guidance Notes on: ⎯ The Role of Management Practices for Supporting Safe Schools; ⎯ The Role of Teaching and Learning Practices for Supporting Safe Schools ; ⎯ The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools (this Note); and ⎯ Supporting Mental Health and Psychosocial Well-Being in Schools (Forthcoming). • A PPT with guidance and tools for Measuring School Safety. • A resource guide on Violence Prevention and School Safety. Figure 1. Safe Schools Practices Guidance Package Chapeau Approach Note (AN): Global Guidance for Supporting and Sustaining Safe Schools Describes a three-step process for addressing school safety risks. Step 1 ! Step 2 Step 3 z Diagnose Risks to Design and Implement Safe Monitor and Evaluate School Safety: School Strategies: School Safety: Diagnose and define the Use diagnostic evidence (findings Monitor school safety and evaluate magnitude of context-relevant risks from step 1) to design and interventions to adapt supports to to school safety by identifying implement universal and targeted changing needs. local, regional, or national factors supports that can promote and that can influence safety levels. improve school safety. Technical Guidance Notes and Resource Guide 1. Diagnose 2a. Universal Supports 2b. Targeted Supports 3. Monitor and Evaluate Measuring School Role of Supporting Mental Measuring School Safety Management Health and Safety Practices Psychosocial Well- Being in Schools Role of Teaching and Learning Resource Guide on Practices Violence Prevention and School Safety Role of Physical Learning Environment + Access the entire Safe Schools Practices Guidance Package here. Safe Schools | 2 Objective The objective of this Note is to provide global guidance including strategies on the role of the physical learning environment (PLE) in supporting and sustaining safe schools. The Note also includes resources and case studies that show how countries have employed safe school strategies and provides additional evidence on the role of PLEs in fostering learning, health and well-being, and relationships. The Note is intended to be used by policymakers, practitioners, school leaders, and/or teachers who are engaged in preparing school infrastructure standards, strategies, plans, programs, and projects (table 1). The strategies reflect the need for complementary efforts at scale and within individual school communities. At national and/or regional levels, the planning, design, and construction of new schools should prioritize the safety, sustainability, and efficiency of school infrastructure investments, including both the construction of new schools and improvements to existing PLEs. At the school level, school communities should proactively address identified safety shortcomings in PLEs where possible and fill gaps in support from higher-level authorities. While all PLE strategies are relevant to the creation of safer schools, some interventions may be a higher priority for some contexts than others depending on the main challenges they face (for example, natural hazards or community violence). Table 1. Applicability of the Note for Multiple Stakeholders Stakeholder Applicability Policymakers Can apply the guidance at the system level to (a) systematize measurement of school safety, which allows for aligning resources with those regions/schools with greatest needs; (b) adopt/endorse safe schools strategies and interventions that can be applied at scale; and (c) inform education sector strategies and priority areas. Practitioners Can use the guidance to (a) design programs for supporting school safety (national, regional, or district level); and (b) review and assess risks to school safety, as well as the programs and interventions implemented to address these risks. School Leaders Can use the guidance to (a) enhance school-level practices that promote safe schools; and Teachers and (b) work together to adopt the strategies and implement interventions at the school/classroom level. Introduction The PLE comprises the physical elements such as buildings, amenities, furniture, learning materials, and equipment at three different levels: (a) spaces in which students, teachers, content, equipment, and technologies interact,1 especially classrooms, but also other teaching and learning areas; (b) the school as a whole, including buildings, libraries, playgrounds, toilets, kitchen, and other outdoor spaces; and (c) the network of school facilities commonly referred to as school infrastructure, that collectively provide education services in a certain territory. This Note also considers the surrounding neighborhoods and routes to and from schools used by students and staff as a component of the PLE. This school infrastructure is molded by and dependent upon not only the functioning and resources of the education system itself but also the external factors beyond the school domain, like the provision of public services such as power, water and sanitation, communications, transportation, building and land use regulations, supply chains, and emergency management. The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 3 Effective PLEs—including school classrooms, facilities, and their supporting network of connected infrastructure—are an integral component of school safety, fostering learning, health, and relationships (see box 1 for definition of safe schools). Increasing the availability of classrooms and decreasing the distance of travel to classrooms has been shown, in many countries, to improve school attendance2,3 and to produce long-term economic and health benefits, including improvements in living standards, particularly for girls. Furthermore, improvements to the quality of the PLE, including limiting overcrowding, contribute to enhanced learning outcomes. 4,5 Access to adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in schools has been linked to better health of children and increased attendance among girls.6,7,8 A review of global evidence and experience identified four evidence-based strategies that can help to ensure that the PLE promotes and improves school safety (figure 3). These strategies correlate with enhanced school safety levels and align with the World Bank’s strategic, analytical, and operational work in several areas. They build on the World Bank’s evidence -based guidance on Development Approach: Green, Resilient and Inclusive Development (GRID), the Education Strategy: Realizing the Future of Learning, as well as the analytical work on PLEs: The Impact of School Infrastructure on Learning. Additionally, tools such as the Roadmap for Safer and Resilient Schools, the Global Library of School Infrastructure (GLOSI), and the Water Global Practice’s Operational Toolkit for WASH in Health Care Facilities and Schools, among other resources, have informed these strategies. It is essential to note that PLE strategies are intertwined with other practices that affect school safety. For this reason, education systems and schools are encouraged to take an integrated approach to school safety (figure 2). Evidence of effective practices for supporting safe schools highlights the PLE as well as management and teaching and learning practices as important levers for system-level school safety reforms. The World Bank’s AN: Global Guidance for Supporting and Sustaining Safe Schools highlights these areas and provides a general overview on school safety challenges and ways to mitigate risks to school safety. This Note expands on the PLE strategies outlined in the AN and provides country case studies and resources for how education systems can promote school safety by applying effective PLE practices. Depending on context and needs, the guidance in this Note can be coupled with the strategies on management and T&L practices.i For details on how to support safe schools through management and T&L practices, refer to the corresponding Notes from the Safe Schools Practices guidance package. iThe chapeau AN: Global Guidance for Supporting and Sustaining Safe Schools provides details on understanding the local context by diagnosing school safety risks. The AN also lays out the factors that influence school safety (box 2) and the negative impacts of those factors on safe school outcomes (appendix table B1). Safe Schools | 4 Box 1. Safe Schools Description Schools are safe when all students, teachers, and staff can thrive in a welcoming environment that supports learning, health and well-being, and positive relationships. “Schools” refers to any setting in which learning occurs, be it virtually or in person, formal or informal. Promoting school safety should consider both the physical and remote spaces in which education takes place as well as other non-tangible aspects of the school and learning environment, such as norms and values. School safety can be understood and improved by focusing on five main characteristics—each of which can impact and should be considered in promoting the safety of students, teachers, and the overall T&L environment. The five main characteristics of school safety are: 1. Physical Safety Protection from risks that can cause bodily harm in school or on the way to and from school, for example, from aggression, including acts of physical or sexual violence and abuse; the school physical infrastructure; or health conditions/diseases such as those that stem from poor nutrition, contaminated water, and inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services. 2. Mental Health and Well-Being Prevention and reduction of negative/toxic stress and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other negative thoughts and feelings; as well as protection from psychological violence, including aggressive, harassing, disruptive and other emotionally harmful behaviors and actions of students, teachers, and/or school staff. 3. Instructional Practices and Environment Safety derived from the practices and environment in which learners, teachers, content, equipment, and technologies interact to enhance learning engagement and inclusion. 9 Instructional practices encompass the non-physical elements including teaching and learning practices; curriculum, pedagogical resources, learning materials, culture, and management. Instructional environment encompasses the physical elements including classrooms, equipment, libraries, playgrounds, toilets, kitchens, and sports facilities. 4. Interactions and Relationships Safety derived from positive interactions which promote inclusion and social and emotional learning (SEL). Interactions refer to those between/among (a) student(s) and teacher(s), (b) peers (student-student; teacher-teacher; teacher-school leader), and (c) school-community. 5. School Connectedness Safety derived from partnerships and engagement of school with the (a) families; (b) community; (c) other schools in the cluster, for example, for teacher professional development (TPD); (d) local referral services to clinics, counselors, psychologists, and legal assistance; (e) local after-school and extra-curricular activity providers; (f) museums, research institutes, and businesses; and (g) local/national disaster risk management (DRM) teams/services. The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 5 Figure 2. Physical Learning Environment: One of the Three Levers for School Safety Reforms Safe Schools Strategies Management Practices • Build a data-driven culture to inform all school safety practices and decisions. • Promote a safe school vision and norms for students, teachers, and school staff. • Prioritize the mental health and well-being of all students, teachers, and school staff. • Efficiently manage resources and partnerships. Teaching and Learning Practices (T&L) Universal Supports • Teachers build positive relationships with their students and promote student- student connections. • Foster students’ and teachers’ social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies. • Implement differentiated teaching strategies in classrooms. • Teachers challenge their own stereotypes and biases as well as those of their students. Physical Learning Environment (PLE) • Promote inclusive PLEs that enable all students to access learning. • Build resilient PLEs that protect the health, well-being, and safety of all users while ensuring education continuity. • Foster learning-oriented PLEs that support and enhance effective teaching and learning approaches. • Ensure green PLEs that reduce negative environmental impacts and avoid exacerbating future climate and safety risks. Supports Targeted • Mental Health and Psychosocial Well-Being • Violence Prevention Safe School Results and Outcomes Results Outcomes Safe schools where all students, teachers, and staff can thrive in a Enhanced (academic, welcoming environment socioemotional, learning civic, and ethical) that supports… (student-teacher, student-student, Positive Health and (physical, teacher-teacher, relationships emotional, teacher-school well-being and mental) leader, and school- community) Safe Schools | 6 Physical Learning Environment Challenges for Safe Schools To support safe schools and ultimately student learning, PLEs must be inclusive, resilient, learning-oriented, and green; they should also be a source of pride for communities. In most places in the world, PLEs are the formal, public infrastructure with which communities have the most regular, extended, and meaningful contact. School-age children and their teachers may spend up to half their waking hours in PLEs. Oftentimes, PLEs also serve important community functions such as being a gathering space for community events, election polling stations and/or an emergency shelter in times of disaster. Yet in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), PLEs are often inadequate—the common challenges faced can jeopardize the safety of students, teachers, and staff as well as limit the effectiveness of the education system. ii Challenge 1: PLEs in LMICs often exclude significant segments of the population from education largely due to an insufficient supply of classrooms or physical conditions that hinder or discourage the participation in learning of vulnerable groups, including girls and those with disabilities. Due to limited government resources to strategically plan and invest in school infrastructure, PLEs tend to be insufficient in number and capacity at both the primary and secondary levels as well as inequitably distributed geographically. In Angola, nearly 20 percent classrooms, serving around 1.12 million students, operate outdoors under trees. 10 Schools frequently suffer from overcrowding, poor maintenance, and often require extensive travel, impacting disadvantaged students, including girls, disproportionately —placing them at heightened risk of gender-based violence (GBV). In Uganda, over 55 percent of lower-secondary school children walk more than 30 minutes to reach school.11 Studies in rural Côte d’Ivoire show that longer distances to school are associated with child workforce participation. 12 Many countries employ shift systems, reducing students' daily learning time as different grades share classrooms. PLEs can also contribute to negative behaviors and interactions, such as bullying and GBV, particularly when they lack proper maintenance, supervision, isolation, adequate lighting, or gender-inclusive WASH facilities.13 These physical conditions contribute to a general feeling of insecurity and danger at school and have been shown to significantly affect girls' attendance and learning opportunities. For example, teenage girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo identified shared gender toilet facilities as high-risk locations for sexual violence, leading them to avoid using toilets during school hours.14 Challenge 2: PLEs in LMICs are often physically unsafe and characterized by poor indoor environmental quality (IEQ)/conditions, putting students and teachers at daily risk of infectious disease, injury, and even death. Many schools lack hazard-resistant design, and new schools are often built without consideration for their potential exposure to natural hazards. Furthermore, decades of underinvestment in the maintenance of the PLE poses safety risks to students and staff. According to the World Bank’s Global Baseline of School Infrastructure,15 1 million school buildings are vulnerable to natural hazard damage and an average of 2,500 school children are at risk of being iiDiagnosing the inherent shortcomings of existing PLEs related to safety is only the first step in a gradual and continual process of creating safer PLEs. The evolution of the built environment is a slow, progressive process. Existing inventories of school infrastructure in LMICs have taken many decades to build and will be gradually replaced over many decades. These improvements must be made strategically by leveraging: (1) regular investments in new school construction; (2) ongoing maintenance and rehabilitation activities in existing schools; and (3) reconstruction following a disaster. They must be supported by interventions at both national and/or regional levels and community and/or school levels as well as enhancements to the enabling environment including policies, regulations, and capacity building. The success of these interventions relies upon access to timely and reliable data; clearly defined responsibilities and coordinated planning mechanisms for effective planning and delivery; and adequate funding. The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 7 killed by a collapsing school in an earthquake on an annual basis. Climate change exacerbates these challenges with more frequent disasters and increasing temperatures. Man-made events can also pose a threat to PLEs. For example, in settings of fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV), PLEs are often the target of violent acts, further exposing children to risk and reducing the availability of PLEs. Eleven thousand such attacks were reported between 2015 and 2019.16 Natural and man-made events not only threaten physical safety but also disrupt education services, leading to prolonged school closures. For example, in Burkina Faso, during the 2021 school year, 2,877 schools were closed due to damage caused by terrorist attacks (mainly from arson) (as of October 31, 2021). 17 Moreover, poor IEQ, inadequate WASH conditions,iii and overcrowding can contribute to the spread of infectious diseases and limit students’ participation in education. 18 In India, a study found that 25 percent of girls do not attend school during menstruation because of poor WASH infrastructure.19 The COVID- 19 pandemic has further emphasized the need for attention to health and safety in schools. Challenge 3: PLEs in LMICs are primarily designed to support traditional pedagogical practices and lack adequate teaching and learning materials (TLMs), which hinders positive interactions, relationships, and learning experiences for teachers and students. Research over the past several decades has demonstrated the link between the design and physical conditions of PLEs and learning outcomes,20,21,22 underscoring the adverse effects and missed learning opportunities caused by inadequate PLEs. For example, an analysis of data from 21 Sub-Saharan African countries showed that when the condition of PLEs changes from “extremely bad” to “extremely good,” s tudent performance increased by 10 percent of one standard deviation.23 The existing inventory of school infrastructure in most LMICs not only falls short in terms of quantity but also often fails to support evolving pedagogical practices such as teamwork and specialized activities. Insufficient and inadequate TLMs, including furniture, technology, and textbooks, further restrict learning opportunities.24 In Ghana, a survey showed that 34 percent of teachers identified insufficient TLMs as a barrier to education, particularly for inclusive education, including students with disabilities.25 Challenge 4: In LMICs, the construction practices, materials, and designs employed in schools often have detrimental environmental effects, posing risks to current and future generations of students. Overall, while there is limited data on the specific environmental impacts of PLEs on the environment, there is growing recognition of the importance of promoting green, sustainable practices in school construction and operation. Many schools in LMICs lack energy-efficient designs or rely on non- renewable energy sources, contributing to increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and environmental harm. For example, in Sub-Saharan Africa, numerous schools still use wood or charcoal for cooking, which can lead to deforestation and GHG emissions. However, a study conducted in Kenya found that introducing energy-efficient stoves reduced fuelwood consumption by 40 percent, which can yield significant environmental benefits.26 Additionally, the use of non-sustainable or non- recyclable materials like concrete and plastic generates high levels of waste, which is often improperly disposed of, leading to soil, air and water pollution. Moreover, aspects of school functioning such as those characterized by inefficient electricity usage or requiring excessive transportation to commute to/from schools, can contribute to increased carbon monoxide (CO) emissions. iiiWorldwide, 19 percent of schools have no drinking water service, keeping nearly 570 million children from accessing drinking water at school. Over 620 million children (23 percent of schools) have no sanitation service at their school. Thirty-six percent of schools serving nearly 900 million children have no basic hygiene services (UNICEF and WHO. 2018. Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools: Global Baseline Report 2018). Safe Schools | 8 Physical Learning Environment Strategies for Safe Schools A review of global evidence and experience identified four evidence-based strategies that can help to ensure that the PLE promotes and improves school safety (figure 3). For each strategy, case studies are presented which provide further insight into how these strategies can be designed and implemented. A list of resources where additional information can be found is also included. Figure 3. Summary of Physical Learning Environment (PLE) Strategies for Safe Schools Education systems and schools should build and maintain physical learning environments (PLEs) that are inclusive, resilient, learning-oriented, and green. 1. PROMOTE INCLUSIVE PLEs 2. BUILD RESILIENT PLEs A. Ensure access for each student to a PLE A. Ensure PLEs meet adequate standards that is within a reasonable distance from for basic infrastructure service provision home and accessible by a safe travel route. and indoor environmental quality (IEQ). B. Ensure new and existing PLEs are B. Make PLEs resilient to protect the health gender-friendly to eliminate barriers and physical safety of users and to contributing to gender disparities in minimize any disruption to education education. services. C. Make new and existing PLEs accessible and accommodating for students and teachers with disabilities, facilitating their participation in teaching and learning activities. D. Use PLEs to foster positive relationships and social cohesion. 3. FOSTER LEARNING-ORIENTED PLEs 4. ENSURE GREEN PLEs A. Create child-centered PLEs that promote A. Ensure PLEs are energy efficient and learning through naturalness, minimize the ecological footprint. individuality, and stimulation. B. Promote PLEs that make use of locally B. Design PLEs to be adaptable to evolving appropriate and ecological materials. pedagogies and capable of supporting diverse learning approaches. C. Provide adequate teaching and learning materials (TLMs), including ICT for blended education modalities. The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 9 1. PROMOTE INCLUSIVE PLEs Promote inclusive PLEs that enable all students to access learning. Inclusive PLEs are those that promote equitable learning opportunities and foster positive relationships through their planning and design. Why Effective PLEs play a critical role in promoting inclusion. An equitably distributed and adequate supply of classrooms is needed to ensure access to education, particularly for students from the most disadvantaged populations, including those living in poor or isolated areas. Well-planned and well- designed PLEs can reduce barriers to girls’ school attendance and learning, which include long travel distances that increase the opportunity costs of attending school, concerns about safety at school and in transit, and inadequate WASH services that do not support menstrual hygiene management.27 PLEs can also support the full participation of students, teachers, or staff with disabilities in the school and learning activities when they are designed to be accessible. Finally, the design of PLEs can influence relationships and promote positive behaviors and social cohesion, for example, through flexible classrooms arrangements that promote interaction and inclusion, open common spaces that promote socialization or more outdoor spaces for recreational activities that strengthen healthy relationships. How A. Ensure access for each student to a PLE that is within a reasonable distance from home and accessible by a safe travel route: 1. To ensure that all students have a seat in the classroom, government authorities should: (a) prioritize investments in new construction and expansions to existing schools to provide sufficient classrooms for current and future student populations; and (b) efficiently plan the school infrastructure network to ensure that school sites are well- distributed with reasonable catchment areas for different levels of education, particularly in the most vulnerable communities. In rural and pastoralist communities, where there tend to be large numbers of out-of-school children, alternatives to traditional PLEs such as mobile schools or boarding schools could also be considered. 2. School communities and administrators should support investment planning by collecting and sharing data with the government for better decision making. Specifically, they should share data on demographics as well as on school building inventory and conditions (for example, insufficient, unsafe, or aging buildings and other infrastructure). 3. School communities and administrators can also use hot spot mapping and “safe routes to schools” approaches to further improve safety and accessibility of travel routes to school, particularly for girls, and should ensure that the perimeter and immediate vicinity of school grounds is secure. 4. School transportation services must be provided for those with disabilities and where schools cannot be reasonably or safely accessed by public transportation or on foot or bicycle. Transportation should be safe—but informal means of transport can be used—for example, in The Gambia, donkey carts are used to transport young children and those who cannot easily walk up to 3 km to school each day as part of a broader strategy to enhance equitable access to education.28 Safe Schools | 10 Case Study 1: Columbia In Colombia, the municipality of Cali developed a long-term school infrastructure plan in 2018 to manage the school portfolio efficiently and increase the supply of classrooms in the city to advance elimination of the two-shift system and allow a full school day for every child. An additional objective of the school construction program was to prioritize the replacement or retrofitting of existing schools that were identified as highly vulnerable to earthquakes. To ensure an efficient and forward-looking investment, the planning process factored in anticipated population growth and demographic changes in the region and sited new school locations using the results of an optimization of travel routes based on the existing municipal transportation network.29 To promote an inclusive approach, municipal planners leveraged city staff and school administrators to collect data on the physical characteristics and shortcomings of school facilities and used these to prioritize interventions. Local factors related to security, such as the existence of “invisible boundaries” of gang activity that impacted access to school were also considered in the planning and design of individual schools.30 To date, Cali has retrofitted and rebuilt numerous schools, improving safety and learning and is moving closer to elimination of the shift system citywide. B. Ensure new and existing PLEs are gender-friendly to eliminate barriers contributing to gender disparities in education: 1. Standards for school design should be conducive to the construction of gender-friendly facilities. In particular, WASH facilities must be of sufficient capacity, separated by gender, private/lockable, and supportive of menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) (for example, waste bins, handwashing stations, MHH rooms). 2. Appropriate management practices should be used to foster equitable PLEs, for example by ensuring adequate accountability and funding for the ongoing operation and maintenance of WASH and MHH services, providing necessary cleaning and menstrual hygiene supplies, and pairing PLE interventions with training and education. 3. Monitoring and evaluation of the physical accommodations to provide gender-friendly facilities should be incorporated into government Education Management Information Systems (EMIS), along with other data on conditions/other aspects of PLEs. Case Study 2: Angola In Angola, the Girls Empowerment and Learning for All Project,31 financed by the World Bank, aims to reduce gender inequalities and female learning poverty in the education system and make economic growth more inclusive in a country expected to have a 30 percent increase in the school- age population by 2030. In 2020, 34 percent of adolescent girls are out of school, only 15 percent complete secondary education, and 22 percent have zero schooling. The country has the third- highest adolescent childbearing rate worldwide, and 51 percent of women are illiterate. In addition to providing financial incentives for girls to continue from primary to secondary school and introducing WASH education and school-related gender-based violence risk mitigation services, the project is expanding the supply of secondary-level classrooms and making existing schools more gender-friendly in regional “hot spots” of high child marriage and adolescent childbearing. New school construction will reduce current travel distances of up to 12 km, a barrier to female attendance. As part of the project, the Ministry of Education is developing new The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 11 School Construction Guidelines and model school designs that will apply a “gender lens,” especially for WASH services, including ensuring separate, secure latrines, using the guidance provided in the World Bank’s WASH in Educational Settings Toolkit.32 The project will also build WASH facilities in existing schools, 60 percent of which have no functioning toilets. The project is expected to be completed by 2025 to create 135,000 new school seats for girls. C. Make new and existing PLEs accessible to and accommodating for students and teachers with disabilities, facilitating their participation in teaching and learning activities:iv 1. Government authorities in charge of new school construction and rehabilitation of existing schools should prioritize enhanced accessibility for students, teachers, and staff with physical disabilities. This entails ensuring access to classrooms, specialized learning areas, canteens, WASH services, recreational and play spaces, and more. Examples of such provisions which can support access include ramps for access to all areas, including classrooms, the library, labs, and toilets; clear signage; and spacious toilets with western commode. It has been shown that integrating accessibility standards into new construction in the planning stage has a negligible impact on total construction cost (approximately 1 percent).33 2. Government authorities and school administrators should promote universal design and reasonable accommodation in facilities, furnishings, equipment, and services to facilitate the meaningful access and engagement of those with physical, sensory, or intellectual disabilities in all learning, teaching, relationship-building, and health-promoting activities. This includes the integration of assistive technology devices to accommodate diverse abilities and learning needs. 3. Monitoring and evaluation of the physical accessibility of PLEs should be included in government EMIS, along with other data on the conditions of PLEs. 4. Where existing PLEs are not accessible to those with physical or other disabilities, school communities should be supported to undertake small-scale adaptations to their facilities or to make improvements to furnishings and equipment to meet the specific needs of those in their community. Case Study 3: Ghana In Ghana, the government developed standards and guidelines to ensure schools’ physical accessibility in 2015, including buildings, ramps, walkways, WASH facilities, etc. This was done in the context of a broader national effort to promote the inclusion of students with disabilities, starting with the Ghana Disability Act 2006. These standards are mandatory for all educational institutions, which must apply and adhere to them. 34 As part of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Sanitation and Water Project, which targets urban areas lacking adequate WASH services, over 400 sanitation facilities in schools were newly built or renovated according to these standards over the past several years, including providing disability- inclusive toilets and handwashing facilities that are separated for boys and girls. 35 These ivThe World Bank’s aim is that all its education programs and projects will be disability inclusive by 2025. Achieving this target means making schools inclusive by removing physical barriers to access, training teachers to adapt their teaching strategies to support all, and increasing the supply of accessible learning materials. For more information on how to support inclusive education through World Bank operations, see the Guidance Note on Disability Inclusion in Education. Safe Schools | 12 interventions to improve access were paired with others targeting MHH, such as changing rooms for girls and sanitary pad disposal bins, as well as MHH education. D. Use PLEs to foster positive relationships and social cohesion: 1. Government agencies in charge of school planning and construction should promote PLE designs as a tool to discourage school-based violence and encourage the use of positive social interactions. To this end, it is important to develop minimum standards and requirements for the size, configuration, and location of communal and circulation spaces; site security measures; and WASH facilities. 2. School communities can use participatory approaches to identify and address security issues in spots with high risks of school-based violence (hot spots), including ensuring that indoor and outdoor PLEs are well-lit with adequate surveillance. 3. School communities can foster greater social cohesion, promote physical safety, and build positive relationships by encouraging the engagement of families and community members in the use, operation, and maintenance of PLEs. This can be done by supporting school communities to customize PLEs with locally available materials and culturally appropriate designs to engender pride in and ownership of school facilities. The use of construction approaches employed by indigenous communities can better ensure that PLEs can be sustainably and cost-effectively operated and maintained in the long term. Another approach to foster social cohesion is to encourage the use of PLEs by the broader community during off-hours as part of a whole-school approach (for example, as school event spaces, classrooms, libraries, recreational facilities, and gardens). Case Study 4: Democratic Republic of the Congo In 54 schools in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the USAID-funded project “Empowering Adolescent Girls to Lead through Education”36,37 used participatory mapping to identify physical spaces that were viewed as “hot spots” for school -related gender-based violence. In separate groups, girls and boys drew maps of the school buildings and grounds, including roads and paths around the schools, and placed green dots in spaces where they felt safe and red dots in places where they felt unsafe, such as toilets, empty classrooms and corridors, staff offices, and the perimeter of school grounds. This information was used to prioritize small grants to parent-run committees at the schools to mitigate the “hot spots” by improving lighting, fixing broken locks, and improving supervision and monitoring of PLEs. Similar participatory approaches have been used in schools in Vietnam, Ghana, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 13 Do You Want to Learn More About Promoting Inclusive PLEs? • The UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning has a website with policy options for addressing the challenge of school distance. • Refer to the World Bank’s Inclusive Education Resource Guide: Ensuring Inclusion and Equity in Education, which includes guidance for inclusive PLE planning and implementation. • World Bank’s Costing a Tech-EnableD Disability Inclusive Education (TEDDIE) Intervention is an instrument comprising a costing tool and an implementation toolkit to help policy makers estimate the cost of procuring, utilizing, and maintaining an intervention that leverages technology to support learners with disabilities. • Explore World Bank’s Operational Toolkit for WASH in Health Care Facilities and Schools which incorporates considerations for gender and inclusion and guidance on climate resilient infrastructure and services. • The following resources provide more information on gender-friendly PLEs and WASH facilities: UNOPS’s Infrastructure for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and the World Bank’s Menstrual Health and Hygiene Resource package, including checklists for the design of inclusive facilities. • UNICEF India’s Making Schools Accessible to Children with Disabilities provides guidance on making the school infrastructure accessible for children with disabilities. It also helps assess school facilities and infrastructure and provides design solutions based on India’s national accessibility standards. These insights can be valuable for teams in other countries as well. • UNESCO’s 2020 report School Accessibility and Universal Design in School Infrastructure provides a wealth of information on accessibility and universal design in PLEs based on evidence from five countries. • See Japan’s A Collection of Exemplary Design of School Facilities for Special Needs Education for concrete design examples of disability-friendly PLEs. • UNICEF’s Inclusive Education Booklet Collection provides practical guidance on a range of topics related to disability-inclusive education, including Booklet 10, which covers PLEs. • World Bank’s report on A Landscape Review of ICT for Disability-inclusive Education explains which tools can be introduced to PLEs to improve inclusivity. • For guidance on reducing violence in PLEs, refer to Section 6 of the WHO’s School-Based Violence Prevention: A Practical Handbook and UNESCO’s Global Guidance on Addressing School-Related Gender-Based Violence. Safe Schools | 14 2. BUILD RESILIENT PLEs Build resilient PLEs that protect the health, well-being, and safety of all users (students, teachers, and staff) while ensuring education continuity. Resilient PLEs are those that are well-planned and designed to function safely and effectively over time in the face of more frequent natural and man- made shocks and stresses. Why PLEs must protect the health, well-being, and safety of students, teachers, and staff who spend much of their waking hours within them. PLEs should ensure basic comfort and an environment conductive to learning—including adequate light, comfortable temperature, adequate ventilation, physical space, clean water, and hygienic sanitation to reduce the risk of infectious disease. 38,39 PLEs must be planned through risk-informed approaches and well-built to minimize the likelihood of damage, injuries, and death in the event of natural or man-made disasters; limit the disruption of education services because of disasters; and adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change. How A. Ensure PLEs meet adequate standards for basic infrastructure service provision and indoor environmental quality (IEQ): 1. Government authorities should plan school infrastructure at scale in conjunction with investments in centralized or regional water, power, and transport infrastructure to ensure that efforts are coordinated. To this end, it is important that EMIS includes data on the availability and adequacy of basic services in schools. 2. Government authorities should support school communities in establishing localized or distributed alternatives in cases where centralized services (such as water supply, electricity, internet connectivity, or school transportation) are unavailable in existing PLEs, or when it is not feasible to provide centralized services. These alternatives could include developing localized sources of water and sanitation, such as rainwater capture or borehole construction, as well as implementing solar power systems. Not only do these localized solutions address the lack of centralized services, but they also offer the added advantage of being environmentally friendly. 3. Authorities in charge of school design and construction should develop, promote, and enforce context-appropriate minimum school design and construction standards for IEQ, including requirements for physical space per student, natural and artificial light, ventilation, temperature, acoustics, and nontoxic materials, as well as WASH facilities. Case Study 5: Peru In 2018, the Ministry of Education of Peru conducted a needs assessment of the WASH conditions in Peruvian schools to inform development of the National School Infrastructure Plan through 2025.40 The WASH assessment built upon the results of the 2013 School Infrastructure Census (2013 CIE), which collected data on WASH conditions in schools across the country in addition to data on other basic conditions of indoor environmental quality and furnishings as well as the seismic vulnerability of school buildings. The WASH assessment included four phases: (1) definition of indicators; (2) definition of legal standards; (3) identification of intervention needs; The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 15 and (4) estimation of the WASH gap. Five categories of indicators were defined to collect more detailed data on WASH conditions within schools: (1) Access to water, sanitation, and hygiene; (2) Storage and pumping systems; (3) Suitability of restrooms; (4) Drinking water fountains; and (5) A rainwater drainage network. A review of national and other Latin American standards related to WASH was then conducted to better consolidate and characterize the minimum standards necessary for the WASH interventions. This included a review of policies related to decentralized infrastructure. Next, specific intervention needs were determined, considering different climate zones within the country, and finally, the cost of the necessary interventions was estimated to determine the total investment needed for WASH improvements. The process highlighted the need for improvements in inter- and multisectoral coordination, prioritization, and decision making. B. Make PLEs resilient to protect the health and physical safety of users and to minimize any disruption to education services: 1. Awareness of climate change, natural hazards, and violent conflict should factor into the planning of school infrastructure by government authorities on a national and/or regional scale. This includes conducting climate and disaster risk screenings and ensuring, where possible, that new school sites are not located in current or future high-risk zones, or where exposure is unavoidable, taking appropriate measures to reduce risks. It also includes prioritizing investments to enhance the physical safety and resilience of existing PLEs that are at high risk for damage due to natural or man-made hazard events. 2. Government agencies must develop and enforce construction standards that protect the physical safety of students, teachers, and staff and promote the reliability and sustainability of PLEs in the face of natural or man-made disasters as well as slow-onset climate stresses such as drought, flooding, and heat. It is important to have these standards, in addition to established priorities and plans, in place ahead of disasters so that if reconstruction funds become available, they can be utilized to make improvements to school safety at scale. 3. Government EMIS should include data on the physical characteristics of existing school infrastructure that can be used to assess vulnerabilities to natural and man-made shocks and stresses and to plan risk-informed interventions. 4. Training should be provided to builders and design professionals to enhance their capacity in implementing hazard-resistant approaches. Additionally, it is essential to raise awareness and build capacity within the public and private sectors for the successful implementation of risk-informed approaches at a national or regional scale. 5. School communities can support risk reduction planning and climate adaptation by: (a) collecting and sharing information on the physical vulnerabilities of school sites and infrastructure; (b) organizing/implementing site-specific interventions/adjustments such as the introduction of shade structures, reflective paint, drainage systems, or deployable flood barriers to reduce vulnerability; (c) ensuring that all emergency preparedness and response equipment (for example, smoke detectors and alarms, communication systems) are adequate, functional, and coordinated with preparedness plans; and (d) being trained to understand how to effectively respond in an emergency and the role that the physical environment plays. Similar school-based initiatives can also be used to protect PLEs from surrounding violent conflict, for example through construction of perimeter walls, installation of security systems and guards, or introduction of early warning systems that trigger protective emergency response actions. Safe Schools | 16 6. In cases where schools are used as emergency shelters for communities or serve other alternate functions during an emergency, government authorities in charge of emergency management should coordinate with local authorities and school administrators to ensure that emergency functions do not disrupt the delivery of education services and support education continuity. 7. In situations where temporary PLEs are necessary due to forced population migration or displacement, these temporary structures should aim to achieve the qualities identified in this Note, including inclusivity, child-centeredness, and the provision of basic services including WASH. They should also be coordinated with the hybrid learning approaches mentioned in Strategy 3. Case Study 6: Kyrgyz Republic In the Kyrgyz Republic, the Ministry of Education is implementing a US$75 million investment in the physical safety and resilience of schools through the Enhancing Resilience in Kyrgyzstan (ERIK) project with the support of the World Bank.41 The project includes the retrofit and/or reconstruction of 40 schools to address identified seismic risk as well as improvements to the energy efficiency and WASH services of schools. The Kyrgyz Republic is a seismically active region of Central Asia. Approximately 70 percent of the 18,000 school buildings within its portfolio of approximately 4,000 schools are vulnerable to damage in a moderate or severe earthquake event, placing students and teachers at risk of death or injury daily. The government conducted a national survey of school buildings to collect information on physical characteristics and vulnerabilities and used these data to conduct a performance-based seismic risk assessment to objectively prioritize interventions on a national scale. The risk-based prioritization framework also optimized the value of the investment using a benefit-cost ratio of lives saved (through retrofits) per dollar spent. The project included collaboration between national engineering universities, the Ministry of Education and Science (MoE), and the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MoES). The project also delivered trainings to build the local technical capacity of the State Agency for Architecture, Construction, Housing and Communal Services (SAACCHS), MoE, MoES, and local universities on performance-based engineering and risk-based prioritization. During implementation of the project, a regulatory gap in the local seismic code was identified, and complementary special design criteria were introduced to ensure the quality of the seismic designs under the project and to improve the seismic performance of other new buildings in the country. The first 10 schools in the project are currently in the design phase and construction is expected to begin in 2023. Having invested in collecting data and assessing the seismic risk of school infrastructure on a national scale, the MoE can continue to finance additional interventions in a strategic, efficient, and equitable way with future access to capital. The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 17 Do You Want to Learn More About Building Resilient PLEs? • Read UNICEF’s Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools: Global Baseline Report 2018 for a better understanding of the state of WASH. • Review World Bank’s Operational Toolkit for WASH in Health Care Facilities and Schools which contains nine modules to support all aspects of implementation, with a focus on sustainability and effective use of WASH services. For additional evidence and guidance on improving the IEQ of PLEs, see Harvard’s Schools for Health report. • Refer to the World Bank’s Roadmap for Safer and Resilient Schools (RSRS) for step-by- step guidance on addressing natural hazard risk in school infrastructure at scale. The RSRS is complemented by the Global Baseline for School Infrastructure—GLOSI, as a repository of evidence-based knowledge and data about school infrastructure. • Refer GFDRR and World Bank’s Education Sector Recovery Guidance Note that provides practical guidance to national governments about key priorities for the education sector following a major disaster or crisis. • Read GADRRRES’s (Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in the Education Sector) Comprehensive School Safety Framework 2022–2030 to support child rights and resilience in the education sector. • The INEE’s Education in Emergencies Toolkit and UNICEF’s Education in Emergencies: A Resource Tool Kit provide guidance on the creation of temporary PLEs for displaced populations and on reconstruction of schools following emergencies. • The Handbook for Implementing the Principles for Resilient Infrastructure (UNDRR) guides countries willing to improve the resilience level of their infrastructure systems. • Review Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) Module 9: Managing Risk in the School, which touches on creating a school risk management plan and school emergency plan. Safe Schools | 18 3. FOSTER LEARNING-ORIENTED PLEs Foster learning-oriented PLEs that support and enhance effective teaching and learning approaches. Learning-oriented PLEs are those that are child-centered, aligned with pedagogical approaches, and equipped with adequate teaching and learning materials (TLMs). Why To facilitate learning, PLEs, including TLMs, must be conceived as part of the pedagogical processes and be aligned with the curriculum and teacher practices. 42 PLEs have the potential to positively influence student engagement, teacher productivity, and learning climate, ultimately affecting learning outcomes.43 Increasing the effectiveness of PLEs is not only about investing more but also investing more wisely through better designs that prioritize simple design solutions with flexible spaces that allow for different arrangements and enable more collaborative behaviors. 44 Better PLE designs are those that ensure adequate alignment with the curriculum, are centered on students’ needs, and are adaptable to accommodate current pedagogies as well as evolving ones (for example, teamwork, green school curriculum). Adequate TLMs are also critical to ensuring learning. As shown in the analysis of 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results,45 the educational resources available in a school tend to be related to the education system’s overall performance as well as to the schools’ average level of performance. Furthermore, high -performing systems tend to allocate resources more equitably between socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged schools. How A. Create child-centered PLEs that promote learning through naturalness, individuality, and stimulation: 1. Government authorities in charge of school design and construction standards, in addition to requiring basic service provision and health standards, should take a step further to promote learning by enhancing naturalness, individuality, and appropriate stimulation.46 Naturalness includes factors such as the amount of natural light, the quality of air and acoustics, and access to green space in PLEs. Individuality is a measurement of how much flexibility is integrated into the design of PLEs (for example, in model school designs) to allow for community and individual customization, expression, and ownership. Stimulation refers to the appropriate amount of visual complexity and color in PLEs. Together these characteristics of PLEs have been shown to promote learning. 2. School communities can improve the naturalness, individuality, and stimulation of PLEs at a local scale by using furniture, furnishings, and finishes to customize and enhance existing classrooms, corridors, and play areas to reflect community interests, preferences, and values and to improve visual stimulation through colorful murals and artwork. Case Study 7: India In Bengaluru, India, the Kunskapsskolan School is a primary and secondary school that is part of a global network of private Swedish schools specializing in child-centered, personalized education.47 In this school, the architecture of the buildings is used as a tool to facilitate learning. The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 19 The design of physical spaces is intended to align with the school’s culture of openness, collaboration, and personalization. Glass partitions are used to separate learning spaces while allowing light to pass through and providing a sense of security. Wide corridors function as multipurpose work and collaboration spaces and facilitate flow between learning activities. Specialized areas cater to students with different learning abilities to promote hands-on learning and personalized and inclusive activities. The school also includes a dance studio, art studio, music room, and makerspace/robotics lab. The design of the PLE gives students more ownership over where and how they work individually and collaboratively, helping to prepare them for similar environments in higher education and adult work life. B. Design PLEs to be adaptable to evolving pedagogies and capable of supporting diverse learning approaches: 1. Government authorities should develop adaptable design and construction standards for new schools to accommodate the evolving needs of PLEs. As teaching methods and learning approaches continue to evolve, it is essential for PLEs to be flexible. While traditional school layouts and classroom configurations may still be relevant to current teaching practices in many places, new school infrastructure investments should be future- oriented and capable of meeting changing requirements throughout their lifespan. For example, classrooms may include moveable wall partitions to allow for changes in size and configuration, enabling spaces to be combined or separated as needed. The programming and spatial design of PLEs should also foster connectivity across different types of learning spaces, such as classrooms, collaborative workspaces, outdoor learning facilities, and libraries. 2. In situations where it is not spatially feasible or cost-effective to accommodate specialized classrooms such as science laboratories, alternative solutions can be considered. For example, multipurpose rooms that can be used for various school activities, combined with the use of science kits and ICT devices, can serve as viable alternatives.48 3. School communities can pilot new approaches in individual classrooms in an incremental way, for example, by adjusting desks to promote group work or by partitioning off spaces for different classroom activities. These types of small-scale pilots, in combination with teacher training, can promote the effective evolution of PLEs in step with teaching approaches in a low-stakes way. Case Study 8: Russia A study in Russia49 utilized the OECD’s School User Survey50 to better understand teacher and student usage and perceptions of PLEs as well as the relationship between characteristics of PLEs and student performance. The OECD survey was taken by more than 1,500 students, 160 teachers, and 32 school principals, most of whom were working within schools with traditional- style classrooms. It showed that most teachers are not in the habit of rearranging furniture within classrooms to facilitate alternate teaching and learning styles, even though they admit that doing so is relatively straightforward and easy. It also showed that teachers and students infrequently use nonclassroom facilities, including outdoor spaces, for learning purposes. These findings highlight the need to ensure that new approaches to the spatial design and configuration of PLEs are implemented in conjunction with behavioral changes and training of teachers and students who use the spaces. A more recent study of the OECD and 2019 TIMSS Safe Schools | 20 (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) data found strong linkages between the design of PLEs and student learning outcomes, including the influence of the configuration of PLEs on teaching and learning practices that support the development of critical 21st century skills.51 These findings reinforce the importance of rethinking the architectural design of school infrastructure to better align with a 21st century context when governments invest in the construction of new school facilities. C. Provide adequate teaching and learning materials (TLMs), including ICT for blended education modalities: 1. Education systems should ensure that schools are well-equipped with sufficient, adequate, and high-quality TLMs. These materials encompass essential items such as pencils, markers, and paper, as well as teaching materials, aids, books, toys for early childhood education, furniture, technological equipment, and laboratory equipment. Government authorities should ensure an equitable distribution of TLMs, focusing on schools that serve the most disadvantaged populations. 2. COVID-19 demonstrated that it is critical for PLEs to have robust ICT infrastructure and contingency plans to facilitate blended education modalities thereby maintaining learning continuity during disruptions to in-person learning. In some contexts, this may include providing access to laptops and mobile phones; in others, it may include broadcasting educational content via radio or TV, along with the distribution of learning materials. COVID-19 also highlighted the importance of adopting inclusive approaches to remote learning, including providing TLMs in multiple formats and languages to cater to diverse learner needs and implementing specific measures to support learners with visual and hearing impairments, as well as those with other disabilities.52 3. The school community must also guarantee access to TLMs among those students who need them the most and ensure the materials are of high quality and properly used. What matters for student achievement and other educational outcomes is not necessarily the availability of resources but the quality of those resources and how effectively they are used.53 Case Study 9: Uruguay In Uruguay, “ Plan Ceibal” was key to ensure education continuity during the school closures caused by COVID-19 because students already had access to remote learning through digital technologies. Plan Ceibal is a digital technology center that promotes the integration of technology to improve learning and foster processes of innovation, inclusion, and personal growth. Plan Ceibal also provides access to digital platforms of adaptive learning to teach math and language to more than 50 percent of students nationwide. Plan Ceibal contributed to reducing the computer access gap between the highest and lowest income quintiles, establishing an equity scenario. Thanks to Plan Ceibal, in 2021 99.85 percent of enrolled students in Uruguay (733,000) had Internet access and connectivity, and 100 percent of schools (3,038) had a WiFi connection.54 The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 21 Do You Want to Learn More About Fostering Learning-Oriented PLEs? The following resources provide additional evidence related to the connection between PLEs and teaching and learning (T&L) outcomes, as well as guidance on improving PLEs to support educational outcomes: • World Bank’s book on The Impact of School Infrastructure on Learning: A Synthesis of the Evidence • Council of Europe Development Bank’s Constructing Education: An Opportunity Not to be Missed • Clever Classrooms report (Peter Barrett and others, 2015), which underscores the substantial impact of individualization (ownership and flexibility), contributing to about a quarter of the learning impact, and the level of stimulation (an appropriate level of complexity and color), also accounting for approximately a quarter of the learning impact • OECD’s Designing for Education: Compendium of Exemplary Educational Facilities 2011 • World Bank’s series of School User Survey and TIMSS analysis reports on Russia: Learning Environments and Learning Achievement in the Russian Federation: How School Infrastructure and Climate Affect Student Success and New Skills for New Century: Informing Regional Policy • Harvard’s Schools for Health report, included under Strategy 2. Safe Schools | 22 4. ENSURE GREEN PLEs Ensure green PLEs that reduce negative environmental impacts and avoid exacerbating future climate and safety risks. Green PLEs are those that are designed to be environmentally sustainable by minimizing their ecological footprints, optimizing the use of resources, and ensuring longevity. Why The environment significantly impacts students’ health and educational outcomes. Air pollution, a consequence of unsustainable practices, and high temperatures negatively affect students’ academic performance and school attendance. 55,56,57 Environmental crises, such as water scarcity, can lead to children dropping out of school.58 Various aspects of school infrastructure, including construction and operational energy use for lighting, heating, cooling, and powering electronic devices, as well as the transportation of students and staff to and from school are contributing to environmental harm.v Minimizing energy consumption by using climate-friendly materials and methods, along with reducing the use of electricity, gas, and water, and promoting paperless practices, can effectively reduce the carbon footprintvi of school infrastructure and contribute to mitigating climate change. Additionally, implementing low-cost and sustainable solutions can enhance IEQ in schools. As crucial components of public social infrastructure, PLEs should set an example for the rest of the public buildings by adopting green, sustainable approaches. How A. Ensure PLEs are energy efficient and minimize the ecological footprint: 1. Government authorities should prioritize the transition to greener school infrastructure through policies, regulations and practices that promote energy efficiency. This includes addressing various dimensions of energy efficiency, such as improving lighting (utilizing natural light), ventilation (implementing natural ventilation systems), cleaning (using green cleaning products), heating/cooling (utilizing ground source heat pumps for conditioned air), water management (implementing harvested rainwater systems), sanitation (promoting recycling), and transportation (encouraging shared modes of transport).vii It is crucial to invest in the development of green skills among engineers, architects, and education staff to drive and support the construction and maintenance of environmentally sustainable PLEs. 2. Government authorities should consider the long-term performance objectives and needs for facilities when planning large-scale investments in school infrastructure. This includes prioritizing physical resilience to climate change and natural disasters, as well as ensuring durability and environmental sustainability. It is crucial to design PLEs with flexibility in mind to accommodate evolving programmatic needs, as discussed in Strategy 3. Additionally, government authorities should strive to achieve climate co-benefits59 in PLE investments, including the reduction of GHG emissions that contribute to climate change. v Categories adapted from Bill Gates. 2021. "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster." Allen Lane. viA carbon footprint (CF) is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) that are generated by our actions. Globally, the average CF is closer to 4 tons. To have the best chance of avoiding a 2℃ rise in global temperatures, the average global CF per year needs to drop to under 2 tons by 2050. Source: https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/carbon-footprint-calculator/. vii For more information read Bill Gates. 2021. “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.” Allen Lane. The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 23 Energy-efficient PLEs play a significant role in achieving climate co-benefits by reducing carbon footprint and promoting climate-smart behaviors. 3. Schools should prioritize maximizing their connection to nature in both their designs and activities to enhance students’ health and well -being. Including features like vegetable gardens and green outdoor spaces, for example, is essential for promoting health, well- being, and content learning. School communities can also support the “rewilding” and greening of schoolyards, providing adequate shade, and creating spaces for play and learning that foster holistic development. These efforts have the added benefit of reducing the negative effects of climate change, such as heat waves and flooding, while increasing green spaces that benefit the surrounding community. 60,61,62 4. School communities can also foster behavioral changes (e.g., turning off lights during the day, reducing water use) in conjunction with an educational curriculum on sustainability and climate change. The UNESCO Green Academies initiative empowers youth through participatory design to identify specific needs and co-create solutions related to four pillars (water security, clean energy, biomass production, and waste management), and to develop a plan with their teachers.63,64 Case Study 10: Russia In Russia, where the government is implementing reforms to improve the supply and quality of early childhood education, it has been shown that new design standards for preschool facilities not only support more child-centered PLEs but also improve energy efficiency and reduce long-term operational expenditures on heating and electricity.65 Traditional layouts for Russian preschools favor separate rooms and corridors that are spatially inefficient due to the “group isolation” principle of discouraging mixing of different classes. Most Russian schools also rely on outdated energy infrastructure and equipment. A pilot project of a new kindergarten facility in Beloyarski City demonstrates that the use of more open and flexible classroom layouts, including a multifunctional shared central space, reduces the total area required per student and corresponding energy usage and construction costs. These efficiencies, combined with additional energy efficiency gains in the heating and electrical system of the facility, demonstrate the potential for achieving energy and cost savings, in addition to more child-friendly PLEs, at scale by introducing similar design standards across the school infrastructure system. A separate study in Russia found a correlation between student test scores and the level of physical comfort in PLEs, including temperature, ventilation, acoustics, and smell, providing further evidence of the importance of sustainable features and indoor environmental quality on learning outcomes. 66 B. Promote PLEs that make use of locally appropriate and ecological materials: 1. Government authorities in charge of the design and construction standards for school PLEs should promote the use of locally appropriate and sustainable construction materials along with energy and water efficiency to reap the added benefit of reducing long-term operational costs. This implies the adoption of low-cost designs that make use of local building materials and energy efficient practices. The engagement of local communities in planning and implementation can facilitate sustainable solutions that can also enhance the indoor environmental quality of facilities. 2. School communities can enhance the quality and sustainability of PLEs through local resources and efforts. This can be achieved by introducing equipment and materials such Safe Schools | 24 as low-flow faucets, LED lights, solar panels, and rainwater capture systems to improve the existing infrastructure. Additionally, indoor environments can be improved by introducing window shades and fans for proper ventilation, as well as acoustic-dampening finishes to reduce noise. As with design, involving school communities in maintenance activities also promotes better IEQ, durability, and overall cleanliness of PLEs. Case Study 11: Indonesia An example of an environmentally sustainable PLE can be found in Bali, Indonesia.a The Green School Bali is a non-profit international organization—considered as one of the most unique international schools in the world. In 2012, it was voted as the Greenest School on Earth by the US Green Building Council.67 The school opened in September 2008 with 90 students and a tailor- made campus that emerged from the jungle and rice fields. Since then, it has grown to over 500 students and to an inspiring example of education for sustainability. The school is surrounded by lush organic garden and was built to appear as though grown from the ground, using bamboo and other local materials such as volcanic stone. Open air structures allow natural light and ventilation. Moreover, the campus runs entirely on renewable energy and even food waste is converted into compost.68 It is a school without walls that aims to cultivate in learners a sustainability mindset that results in responsible citizenship. Green School Bali’s educators demonstrate emotional intelligence, a passion for relationships, experiential, authentic and local teaching and learning, and a commitment to community. The curriculum is grounded in education for sustainability, nature- and place-based learning, and student-led inquiry as approaches for developing students’ abilities to think, act, and reflect as l ocal and global citizens striving to create a more sustainable world. From its origins at Bali, the Green School has become a global movement in education, with schools in New Zealand, South Africa, and Tulum. Note: a. For more information, see the Green School, Bali website at https://www.greenschool.org/bali/. Do You Want to Learn More About Ensuring Green PLEs? • Review IDB’s Module 3: Environmentally Friendly School Infrastructure, Module 4: Energy Savings, Efficient Use, and Alternative Technologies, Module 7: School Green Areas, and Module 8: Selecting and Using Sustainable Materials. These modules cover planning for new and existing schools, estimating energy use, assessing green spaces, offering recommendations to cut energy use, boost greenery, and establish ongoing monitoring. • OECD’s Climate-resilient Infrastructure highlights emerging good practices and remaining challenges across OECD and G20 countries. • Read the brief on Embodied Energy (Australia’s Guide to Environmentally Sustainable Homes) for recommendations to reduce energy consumption in the production of a building. • Refer to Bali’s Green School, Kenya’s Uaso Nyiro Primary School, and Finland’s Mansikkala School for practical design examples of green PLEs. • Watch a summary video on PITCHAfrica's Waterbank Schools initiative that talks of the potential of rainwater harvesting in schools. The Role of the Physical Learning Environment for Supporting Safe Schools | 25 Conclusion A safe, inclusive, and positive learning environment is not only critical for student learning, health, and well-being but also for fostering positive relationships among peers and teachers, as well as ensuring the safety and well-being of teachers themselves. These relationships extend to teacher-teacher interactions and those between teachers and school leaders, which are foundational to a supportive educational community. Recognizing that schools can serve as a vital sanctuary from unsafe home environments for some students further underscores the importance of safe schools. PLEs, through their influential role in ensuring safety, are pivotal in fostering an environment that encourages active engagement in the teaching and learning process. Research shows that education systems and schools that provide access to and foster inclusive, resilient, learning-oriented, and green PLEs for all students and teachers are better able to promote school safety, including responding to various threats and challenges and recovering from disruptions to education. The four strategies proposed in this Note can be employed to strengthen the role of PLE practices in promoting safety in schools—providing guidance on actions that can be undertaken in a wide range of settings. As highlighted, different students may require different types of support to feel/be safe and the same should be considered while prioritizing strategies. Moreover, these four strategies form part of the guidance on safe school practices and can be integrated with strategies that strengthen management and T&L practices, depending on context and needs. Safe Schools | 26 Endnotes 1Adapted from OECD. 2017. “OECD Framework for a Module on the Physical Learning Environment.” Rev. ed. Dec. https://www.oecd.org/education/OECD-FRAMEWORK-FOR-A-MODULE-ON-THE-PHYSICAL- LEARNING-ENVIRONMENT.pdf. 2D. Vuri. 2007. “The Effect of Availability and Distance from School on Children’s Time Allocation in Ghana and Guatemala.” Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) Project. https://documents.pub/document/the-effect- of-availability-and-distance-from-school-ucw-policy2-in-many-developing.html?page=3. 3Christina Paxson and Norbert R. Schady. 2002. “The Allocation and Impact of Social Funds: Spending on School Infrastructure in Peru.” The World Bank Economic Review 16 (2): 297–319. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.4.6240&rep=rep1&type=pdf. 4Yael Duthilleul, P. Woolner, and A. Whelan. 2021. “Constructing Education: An Opportunity Not to Be Missed.” Thematic Reviews Series. Council of Europe Development Bank, Paris. https://coebank.org/media/documents/Constructing_Education.pdf. 5Peter Barrett, Alberto Treves, Tigran Shmis, Diego Ambasz, and Maria Ustinova. 2019. “The Impact of School Infrastructure on Learning: A Synthesis of the Evidence.” International Development in Focus. Washington, DC: World Bank. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/30920. License: CC BY 3.0 IGO. 6Donald A.P. Bundy, Lene Odum Jensen, Annemarieke Mooijman, and Caroline van den Berg. 2022. Toolkit on Hygiene, Sanitation and Water in Schools. https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/ 339381468315534731/toolkit-on-hygiene-sanitation-and-water-in-schools. 7Anjali Adukia. 2017. “Sanitation and Education.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 9 (2): 23–59. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20150083. 8Javier Santiago Ortiz-Correa, Moises Resende Filho, and Ariel Dinar. 2016. “Impact of Access to Water and Sanitation Services on Educational Attainment.” Water Resources and Economics 14: 31–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wre.2015.11.002. 9 OECD 2017. 10World Bank. 2019a. “Project Appraisal Document (P168699) Girls Empowerment and Learning for All Project, Republic of Angola.” International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. 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