Factors that Affect the Quality of Education

In this world where education is one of the top priorities of every individual, there is a need to ensure that students get the much needed facilities as well as tools and materials to expedite the education process. Also, there is also a need to ensure that students get quality education from qualified teachers. For schools to be more effective in imparting knowledge to students, they need to provide the right educational facilities, proper tools and materials and highly qualified instructors.

Educational facilities include but are not limited to classrooms, school buildings, gymnasium, library and other structures that could help boost and facilitate the educational process. These facilities are very important because they provide the proper learning environment or surroundings for students. These structures should be designed in a way that they could provide the ideal educational backdrop. Architects and engineers have been looking for classroom designs that would positively affect the academic success of students using the facilities. The same is true when designing a library or a conference room.

Tools and materials in the academic setup include but are not limited to chairs, boards, papers and others. Without these materials, instructors would have a difficult time giving important lessons to their students.

Qualified teachers are also needed in order to effectively impart knowledge. Teachers and professors must possess more than adequate knowledge about the subject they are teaching. They must also be knowledgeable of the right teaching methods that would allow them to be more effective in teaching their students. Knowledge should be combined with right methods to ensure that students do get quality education the effective way.

Quality education is not just about the lessons being taught, but also about other important factors like right education facilities, proper tools and materials and highly qualified instructors and teachers.

Facilities that Help Further Education

The academe does not only mean a community of students, professors, teachers and administrators. It could also mean a place of instructions, where students are educated and trained. Thus for an academe to be more effective in teaching students, there is need for quality educational facilities. These facilities do not include only those that have direct involvement in raising the mental capacity of students; they also include machineries, equipment and more generally, buildings that could help improve the physical abilities of the members of the academe.

One of the important educational facilities in the academe is the classroom. A classroom is usually where instructions and training are given. Professors and teachers use the classroom as a place to give lectures, examinations and even interview. The classroom is primary facility that should exist in an academe. Other facilities be absent, but not classroom. 

Another important educational facility in a school is the library. The library is where books, mostly academic books and literatures, are contained for research purposes. Many modern libraries today feature computers and other advanced technologies that could help students obtain necessary data and information for their academic research.

Aside from the classroom and library, another important educational facility is the gymnasium. The brain works best when it is healthy. Thus, many schools still offer physical education as part of their curriculum. Most gymnasiums cater to ball sports like volleyball and basketball. Other indoor sports could also be played at school gymnasium. The gymnasium could also be used for large school gatherings like graduation and campus-wide meetings.

Other educational facilities include but not limited to school clinics, science laboratories, study hall and conference halls. The facilities vary in different schools, depending on the necessity and the available budget. If used to the fullest, students could expect the best education.

Issues to Consider in Designing Educational Facilities

Throughout history, the importance of educational facilities facilitating learning has been largely overlooked, because the focus of the educational process has largely been centered on students, teachers, teaching aids, and technology. The main guideline that has been followed by learning institutions in building educational facilities is that it is aesthetically pleasing to outside viewers and that it maximizes space allotted for the building in which the school is built on.

It is fortunate for educators as well as students of architecture alike that there is an existing database of educational architecture over the past decade that is easily and readily accessible. This has resulted to the creation of standards outlining the best practices for planning and designing the educational facilities of modern schools. This language of design has a foundation in the skills of literacy and numeracy. This, when combined with the demands facing a global economy, will require learners to be curious, self-directed, and be able to work in different kinds of platforms. Below are practices that support the requirements of a contemporary educational framework:

• Supports teaching and learning. Educational facilities should be changed from classrooms which encourage the creation of “turfs” to one that fosters collaboration in interdisciplinary studies. To achieve this end, there should be flexible studios, access to outside project areas, and spaces to perform inventive, experimental projects. Outdoor learning areas should have adjustable sun filtering elements, rain protection, exterior storage and an independent source of electricity.

• Maximizes the physical comfort and well-being of students and teachers. The basic requirements to provide this are structures sheltering students from cold, heat, humidity and give them access to fresh air. Requirements for the modern educational setting include access to daylight in all learning spaces where this is appropriate, view windows suited for the ages and sizes of students in the school, and operable windows which will allow ventilation and fresh air to be controlled and distributed well.

Lighting and Color: How Educational Facilities Contribute to Student Achievement

Educational facilities play an important role in the way students learn and share knowledge between themselves and other scholars. There are a lot of educational facilities being used by universities and other learning institutions, but for purposes of this discussion, we will focus on lighting and color as discussed in an article at http://www.coe.uga.edu/sdpl/researchabstracts/visual.html published by the University of Georgia College of Education.

Lighting is one of the most critical physical characteristics of educational facilities because this contributes to a classroom's visual environment. A visual environment that is conducive to learning will help students participate in classroom activities more and integrate the concepts and theories being taught. Good lighting significantly contributes to the aesthetics and psychological character of the learning environment. This is because the visual environment affects the following aspects of the learning process:

• visual stimuli
• the student's mental attitude
• as a direct result of the above, the student's scholastic performance

As for color, the choice of what colors to put in a learning space will also have an impact both in the teaching process and how students learn what is being taught. The online article mentions that color can influence student attitudes, behavior and learning through the following:

• a student's attention span
• the student's and teacher's sense of time

The proper combination of colors can help convert an atmosphere that was previously thought of as depressing and monotonous into a pleasing, exciting and stimulating environment. A change in color schemes in schools was even found to reduce absenteeism and enhance positive feelings about schools from students.

Students who saw colors that they liked had influenced their muscular tension and motor control. Warm colors were associated with slight elevations in blood pressure of children while cooler colors tneded to cause slight drops in blood pressure. When colors and lighting are combined together to create educational facilities that are mentally stimulating, they can cause an increase in the following bodily functions:

• muscular tensions
• respiration rate
• heart action
• blood pressure
• brain activity

Educaitonal Facilities as a Factor in Choosing a School

        Educational facilities are very important for students in their education and their life as a whole. As a student, you should take into consideration school facilities in your decision-making towards choosing a school to apply in.

• List – You can start evaluating the different schools you are considering by making a list. You can make a list of what you are looking for in a school or a list of the schools and what educational facilities they feature best. You can make these two lists as cross-reference against each other to decide better. It is important to have a list of what you are looking for in a school so that you will know what you really want and not be misled in the decision-making process.

• Weigh – After making an initial list, you can add to the educational facilities as a factor other factors like transportation and quality of education which can or should be your priority. You need to include academic quality, facilities and location because they are very important factors. A school may have a very attractive facility but can be located in a place which is very far or very hard to travel to.

• Eliminate – Rank the schools based on the most important factors in their order of importance. For example you can start with academic prestige, continue with facilities and conclude with location. You may decide between going to a school which has a spoon-feeding orientation, has a facility which is very conducive to studies but you are already bored with because you studied there in your high school or a school which poses a great challenge to the motivation of the students and a new and exciting environment in which you can develop your character.

        Facilities are very important in a student's studies because it is where he or she will study, learn, perform and live.

Entities that Set Requirements for Educational Facilities

Educational facilities should meet requirements set by the government through its education and concerned departments and the education sector or industry. The requirements include, among others, the quality of the construction materials, the measurements of the facilities, ventilation and safety to name a few.

• Education Department – The requirements set for educational facilities are generally governed and regulated by the education department of the state or country and federal government if any. This is because, even though some of the requirements like building permits are secured from the office of the building official of the government, the education department is the ultimate approving body of school facilities permits. The education department sets requirements for the dimensions of classrooms taking into account the number of students and the space having enough room for movement. The department also audits of checks the school's maintenance of the requirements that it has met.

• Concerned Departments – Because educational facilities are forms of infrastructure, the office of the building official of the government issues their permits to build and maintain such infrastructure. This is only one example of a concerned department apart from the education department. Other concerned departments of the government who are involved in setting requirements and regulating school facilities, aside from the office of the building official, are the fire department, the police department and health department, to name some. The professional regulation commission which is part of the government also oversees the qualifications of teachers and other professionals working in school facilities.

• Sector and Industry – The school is part of the education sector and industry which involve associations and organisations. These entities regulate themselves and their members. They set high standards for membership and the maintenance of such. Included in these standards are the requirements regarding school facilities, academic performance and others. It is important to note that these associations include in their regulation and accreditation of the schools the latter's school infrastructure.

My Essay Task on Educational Facilities in The Developing World

  

       During the start of the first term in my second year as a bachelor of science with education student, our lecturer assigned as a coursework task consisting of an education essay on about topics that involve current events or news, or current issues, concerns or problems in education. I decided to focus my topic on the stated of state or publicly funded educational facilities in the developing world because I previously read in a newspaper that many schools at the primary, secondary and tertiary education levels would usually have poor or sub-standard facilities and equipment due to various reasons.

        So I decided to perform a thorough research about my essay topic so that I could correctly and properly discuss my topic and support with adequate and relevant information and produce a well-written education essay. In my research, I learned that the primary reasons for the poor or sub-standard educational facilities in the primary, secondary and tertiary education level schools are due to non-existent or inadequate funding and support from the national and local governments of many developing countries. In addition, there are several reasons on why there is always lack or delay in obtaining funding from the national and local government authorities.

        In my research, I found out that the main reasons for the lack or delay in obtaining government funding for the educational facilities of state funded schools would be the inadequate budgets allocated by the national and local government agencies or organisations, allocated funds being diverted to other public projects, and funds being lost to graft and corruption. The other reasons for the poor quality of the school facilities in some developing countries would be schools located in the regions of the regular paths of disastrous storms, and facilities that are neglected or abandoned due to wars or other violent conflicts in the places where the schools are located.