A large number of children across Europe are working in classrooms with an inadequate supply of daylight and fresh air. Why is this a problem? New research has revealed that an optimum indoor environment can improve the performance of schoolchildren.
Despite improvements to school buildings across Europe in recent years, a large review from the German research institute, Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP, has revealed that children are frequently working in classrooms with excessive levels of CO2, above the recommended range of 1,000 – 2,000 ppm. The research also indicates that many classrooms do not supply adequate levels of daylight.
The researchers also found that improving ventilation rates, reducing CO2 concentration and increasing access to daylight in classrooms, improves pupils’ performance in the sense of speed, higher levels of attention and concentration and lower rates of absenteeism.
However, the benefits of higher levels of achievement in education are not confined to the children themselves. When comparing the educational levels between European countries, using a conditional test score based on PISA tests, the study reports that a correlation to the conditional growth within those countries exists.