The Children/Youth Environment and its Effects on the Practice of Teachers

The research in this study concerns the design of classroom environments and the impact of these environments on the practice of teachers. It involves data gathering from primary and secondary schools. Original graphic behavioural mapping instruments were developed for the school-based data collection, and subsequent analysis is both qualitative and quantitative. The findings from the analysis of teachers' classroom behaviour have been related to the issues emerging from their interviews. These data inform questions about teachers' awareness of their surroundings; the extent to which this awareness impacts on their teaching, and the extent to which teachers feel they have control over the features of their classrooms. This research concludes by making a case for the importance of environmental awareness in the training and retraining of teachers. Environmental competence is an important constituent of the skilled teacher.