Construcciones escolares. Instrumento de evaluación de los requisitos básicos de seguridad, habitabilidad y funcionalidad = Schoolar constructions. Assessment instrument of the basic requirements of security, habitability, and functionality

Abstract

Most of the public-school buildings in Early Childhood and Primary Education that are currently working in buildings constructed in the last quarter of the 20th century, in accordance with current regulations. Some of them do not have any renovation, so they have obsolete facilities that, in many cases, do not guarantee the well-being of children. The objective of this research is to propose and validate an assessment instrument designed to evaluate the satisfaction of the basic requirements of safety, habitability, and functionality, of public-school constructions, based on the current legislation. The methodology used was a combination of a general bibliography revision of the regulations applicable to public school buildings and educational spaces; and a fieldwork carried out during November 2019 in two public schools of Early Childhood and Primary Education in the city of Móstoles (Madrid). The evaluation tool was a test through observation techniques, open and informal interviews with the staff of the centre, and documentation consultation in schools and the City Council. After doing the precise adjustments, we obtained an evaluation instrument consisting of 232 variables distributed in 14 inspection areas. Its application makes it possible to know the degree of adequacy of public-school buildings to the basic requirements, for making some decisions about the actions that need to carry out to achieve them. The main conclusions are the need to combine several actions to obtain all the information from the evaluation tool, such as visual and technical inspection, documentation consultation and interviews; and in this last sense, the need to consult the educational community in certain aspects to obtain results that are very faithful to reality.