8-EST-814--Related Terms in School Facilities. (Sch. Fac. Lecture 2)

                                                                 Related Terms in School Facilities Lecture 1

                                                                                By Olaide Alabi (PhD)

School facilities are the different elements that facilitate all academic and non-academic operations within the school system, they guarantee the enablement of the entire system within a school, and they could be referred to as the intermingling of different related elements working for teaching and learning, as well as handling school affairs.

You need to be aware of certain related terms as far as “School Facilities” are concerned, the related terms include:

1.      Educational facilities in schools

2.      Physical environment (Physical structure and Physical facilities).

3.      Infrastructural facilities in schools

4.      Instructional facilities in schools

 

Educational facilities:

Now let us start with educational facilities, to start with, when we talk of anything educational, we refer to the process of bringing an individual or a set of people out of ignorance to light and benefitting experience. Therefore the attention of education in this perspective is about tutoring and helping people to achieve certain morals that will turn them into responsible individuals. To be able to do this, it doesn’t come from the bloom it has to be done in a planned environment.

This makes school facilities to be relevant because they make it easy for teachers who are seen as benefactors to students to achieve their goals with little or no stress.

In a nutshell, educational facilities refer to human and non-human resources for schooling.  These human resources include all categories of people that are engaged within the system while the non-human resources could be all movable and immovable materials that could be used for teaching, learning and other school activities.  Educational facilities cover staff, buildings, fittings, and equipment that are essential for the effective and efficient operation of school activities.

The role of educational facilities within the school is to build students who are mentally sound, alert, and capable of acquiring values and virtues. It is to build students that will find pleasure in academic activities which is fundamental to life endeavour.

 

Physical environment.

The most important part of school facilities is the physical environment comprising the physical structure and physical facilities.

The physical environment is the natural environment of a school and refers to a school setting, surroundings, accessibility, location, sites, buildings, gadgets, and other ancillary facilities. It is the physical condition of a school which includes the type of terrain, the actual location, and the site quality of a school.   

 The physical environment is also referred to as a physical learning environment and this includes conventional classrooms and a combination of other structures where learning takes place.

Other components of the physical environment include any structure suitable for use such as a classroom, laboratory, library, facilities for a meal, gymnasium and or any other facility that is specifically designed for athletic or recreational activities for academic progress.

Also included are facilities used for instruction, housing students, administrative facilities, or facilities for research programmes.

The physical structure encompasses the composition of a school. The physical structure represents the building and other school components, this includes how buildings are arranged within the natural environment of a school (Schneider 2002, Kuuskorpi, Finland & González, 2011).

The physical facilities of the school comprise all the buildings, grounds, equipment, and infrastructure required to bring about a suitable environment to work in. The quality of the products of any school and their effectiveness are directly related to the condition of the physical surroundings of the school, they are influenced by the available gadgets and the size of the school.

The role of the physical environment is that it should be designed not only for learning but also to build up the required political will in the life of children, thereby making the value of learning to be centred on the good condition of the entire system.

Infrastructural Facilities in Schools

Infrastructural facilities are the set-up of a school, and how different elements within the school are structured for schooling. They are the basic physical and organisational structures and facilities that are needed to set up the effectiveness of a school. Infrastructural facilities include appropriate spaces and decent accommodation for instruction.

They cover the school buildings, classrooms, playgrounds, libraries, toilets, drinking water facilities, Science labs, Art Craft room etc. Majorly, these are the most vital characteristics of school infrastructure. It should be realised that it is not about making these structures available but there is the need to make these structures spacious to provide comfort for learning as well as provide avenues for expansion as well as the means to refurbish and update to the trendy standard.

School infrastructural facilities are significant in enabling the school system to deliver improved educational outcomes and fulfil the purpose of the school curriculum. Part of the steps in providing correct infrastructural facilities is that infrastructural facilities ought to be designed with high-quality standards for effective instruction and day-to-day management as well as ensuring that the building structures are well-plastered, well-ventilated and constantly maintained.

Infrastructural facilities in schools are highly germane for a decent school system, hence the need to take into consideration the adequate needs of the population of people within the school as well as giving appropriate and conducive accommodations for users

Instructional facilities in schools

Instructional facilities are materials and equipment for teaching and learning. They facilitate the communication process between teachers and learners and generally facilitate the operations within the school system, especially in teaching and learning.

Instructional facilities should be an investment in the education of students today for a brighter and more positive future. They are those things that enable teachers to do their work very well and assist learners to learn effectively.

Don’t be surprised that instructional facilities include the buildings and classrooms as they are the containers for other instructional materials. Instructional facilities comprise materials within the school buildings and classroom; equipment, chairs, tables, devices such as teaching aids and instructional media; all technology gadgets, resource centres and their materials, libraries and library materials, laboratories and their apparatus and music rooms and music equipment. 

Instructional facilities are all those things that are needed to facilitate effective instruction within the school system. Instructional facilities should be well-packaged to bring about advanced interactions between the teachers and the learners.

Classrooms and other parts of school premises should be equipped with modern technological gadgets to meet the challenges of the present age (Bizimana & Orodho, 2014, Dortch2013). With the advancement in technology, there are currently different innovations that come with the use of instructional facilities, in the form of new strategies to enhance instruction.

 

. Look forward to the other components of school facilities

Assignment

I believe you have had a stimulating experience going through this topic. Comment what you understand about infrastructural facilities in two sentences and submit it under the comment session.

References

 

(Kolawole& Arikpo, 2001; Jekayinfa & Kolawole, 2008; Huber & Cambridge 2009; Ibe-Bassey 2009, Coalson, Dudley & Hurley 2011).

 

Bizimana & Orodho, 2014, Dortch2013, Florida Department of Education 2015, Pennsylvania Institute of Technology 2010