Post occupancy evaluation of primary schools in Saudi Arabia

Area of Science:

• Educational Facilities Management
• Environmental Psychology in Education
• School Architecture and Design

Background:

• The physical school environment significantly impacts academic achievement and staff well-being.
• Limited tools exist for multi-stakeholder consultation, especially including young students' opinions.
• Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in schools but lacks design and evaluation guidelines.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and apply a Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) method for assessing international primary schools in Saudi Arabia.
• To identify weaknesses in school facilities and understand stakeholder (children, teachers, parents) perspectives.
• To explore how school facilities can better support teaching, learning, and overall satisfaction.

Main Methods:

• Development of a novel Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) methodology.
• Application of the POE method across three international primary schools in Saudi Arabia.
• Consultation with three key stakeholder groups: children, teachers, and parents.

Main Results:

• The POE method successfully identified specific weaknesses within the evaluated school environments.
• Significant differences were observed in the responses and perceptions of children, teachers, and parents.
• The study revealed a gap between current school facility standards and optimal conditions for education.

Conclusions:

• There is a critical need to synthesize research on optimizing school facilities for teaching and learning.
• Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE), especially with checklists, can be a valuable tool for improving educational facility standards.
• Future efforts should focus on integrating stakeholder feedback, particularly from students, into school design and evaluation processes.