Articulación espacial en los edificios educativos asturianos. Propuestas de adecuación a las metodologías docentes

Abstract

ABSTRACT Education is involved in a general change process, especially during the last decade and affecting all levels of education. Social changes fostered by information and communication technologies, among other factors, have accelerated this process. In this context, active teaching practices have been gaining in importance to traditional methods, which are considered outdated and not adapted to current needs. However, most of the buildings at the different educational levels in Spain are the result of architectural programs that are disconnected from the world of today. Educational architecture seems to have remained static at a time in which society required different skills and, therefore, teaching methods were different from those used nowadays. Learning spaces have not evolved as pedagogy and teaching methods have. Thus, this research aims to find the origin of this disconnection, this lack of correspondence between form and function, between architecture and education. To this end, the problem is analyzed from a double perspective: on the one hand, we observe the pedagogical and methodological aspects that characterize the new educational paradigm, which is centered on the student and where teachers take on a guiding role, in contrast to the traditional one as the unique source of knowledge. On the other hand, the spatial implications that this new model involves are studied, trying to develop appropriate architectural proposals to current educational needs. The review is structured from a temporal point of view: it begins with a diachronic approach through the relationship between the two themes mentioned. Next, and from a synchronic perspective, the current state of the topic studied and the different aspects that influence it are reviewed. In this way, through the search for the factors that, within teaching, have affected and still affect the use of space, an attempt is made to obtain a global image of the various aspects and influences that characterize this relationship. The empirical phase focuses on finding out the perception of Secondary Education teachers in the Principality of Asturias about the educational spaces in which they teach, as a first step towards a diagnosis that seems complex to find. The research carried out provides data that allow us to know the use that the secondary teachers make of the space, as well as their satisfaction with regard to different environmental aspects of the schools where they teach. This work aims to be the beginning of a series of studies dedicated to revealing, on the one hand, the spatial and methodological factors that affect the use of the educational space and, on the other, the impact that different actions carried out in the schools can have on learning. In summary, "Spatial layout in Asturian educational buildings: adequacy proposals to teaching methods" is presented not as a catalogue of spatial solutions to active teaching methods promoted by a new educational paradigm, but as an analysis and reflection on the various factors that influence the complexity of learning spaces. It is a starting point in the study of the relationship between architecture and education that tries to make visible the current needs of the educational facilities of the Principality of Asturias, starting with the stage of Secondary Education. The conclusion will not be, therefore, a proposal for a specific model or a revision of an architectural typology, but rather a compilation of principles that the educational architecture of the 21st century should consider. Aspects that the institutions and the designers responsible for the construction and refurbishment of educational buildings should pay attention to in order to achieve efficient and lasting actions.