The Influence of Thermal Conditions on Teachers’ Work and Student Performance
| Published date | 01 March 1994 |
| Date | 01 March 1994 |
| Pages | 34-42 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09578239410051835 |
| Author | Richard Smith,Graham Bradley |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Journal of
Educational
Administration
32,1
34
The Influence of Thermal
Conditions on Teachers’ Work
and Student Performance
Richard Smith and Graham Bradley
Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Introduction
The dominant theoretical traditions for analysing teaching, learning and teachers’
work are derived from social, cultural and psychological theories. A significant
gap in these approaches, and the various sub-disciplines which they gloss, is what
might be called extra-socio-cultural and psychological factors. Here we refer to
“weather-related factors” which mediate the adaptation of teachers and students
to their immediate school and classroom situations. Curiously, Australian
educational researchers seem to have ignored this area of research even though
Australia is spread across many geographical and climatic regions, including sub-
tropical, tropical and hot desert[1].
This neglect is surprising as climatic conditions would seem to have
instrumental policy-making implications for school building design; school
landscaping; classroom design, furniture and fixtures; time-tabling; class sizes;
clothing and school uniforms in Australia. At another level, this apparently trivial
issue is concerned with a range of curriculum and pedagogical issues impinging
on social justice and equality which are areas of Australian educational research
that have international standing[2].
We argue that physical and cognitive effort in schools are as much contingent on
climatic conditions as they are on social, cultural and psychological variables as
such. Indeed, our position is that even if the latter variables are confronted head-
on and are redressed by policy initiatives, equality and quality of educational
outcomes may be curtailed in school settings where both teachers and students
endure working conditions that are objectively restraining because of background
climatic conditions. In short, research on weather variables and their impact on the
educational enterprise are neglected areas which nevertheless have substantial
potential impact on the tasks of schools. Of particular interest to us are the effects
of thermal conditions on teachers’ work and student performance . The remainder
of the article sets our concerns in the national educational reform context before
indicating the significance of thermal conditions on human effect and
performance.
Revamping Teachers’ Work and the School Reform Agenda
The history of school reform has shown that policies depend on the smallest
policy unit in a policy system, namely teachers[3]. Since the 1970s, they have been
the targets of policy initiatives aimed at school “improvement”. Recently in
Journal of Educational
Administration, Vol. 32 No. 1, 1994,
pp. 34-42. © MCBUniversity Press,
0957-8234
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