ABSTRACT
Primary schools have traditionally been built as a series of separate rooms, each individually equipped and managed by a designated teacher. Open-plan schools provide a variety of teaching, recreation, and study spaces not based on separation or individuals. They encourage and provide for joint use of space and resources, for practical co-operation between teachers and for flexible grouping of children. Open-plan, therefore, applies as much to a sort of teaching as to a sort of accommodation. The first English open-plan school, opened at Finmere, in Oxfordshire, in 1959, involved detailed discussions of teaching preferences and work patterns, of the practical organization of teacher's work, its variety and quality. The aims of teachers in open-plan schools do not appear to be different from those in traditional schools, but open-plan schools may attract those whose styles are progressive. The intention of open-plan schools was to enhance learning opportunities through the provision of highly adaptable and sensitive accommodation.
