Conference Agenda

The design and research of Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs) have received considerable attention, particularly since 2013, when the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a major report on the topic. ILEs can be defined as the merging of innovative technologies and spaces with innovative teaching and learning practices (Mahat et al., 2018). ILEs are typically characterised by open and flexible environments (Frelin et al., 2025) within the continuum proposed by Dovey and Fisher (2014), ranging from closed classrooms with corridors (type A) or street spaces (type B); classrooms with flexible walls (type C) or flexible walls adjoining street space (type D); to open-plan environments with adjoining rooms and street spaces (type E).

Learning environments (LEs) are expected to foster educational quality, equity, and inclusion (Kyriakides et al., 2019). In addition to influencing academic performance, LE design affects the wellbeing of the whole school community (Mäkelä & Leinonen, 2021). Furthermore, the sustainability crisis urges the extension of human, physical, psychological, social, and socioeconomic wellbeing towards planetary wellbeing and ecological, social, economic, and cultural sustainability in LE design (Mäkelä et al., 2025).

This double symposium presents multiple international and European studies focusing on LEs that foster innovation, sustainablity, academic excellence, wellbeing, and inclusion in a balanced manner:

1. We first present the Australian-led international Innovative Learning Environments and Student Experience (ILESE) research, involving participants from 19 countries worldwide, with a particular focus on European contributions.

2. This is followed by a multidisciplinary, multisite case study conducted in Nordic and Latin American educational, cultural, and geographical contexts. Results from photo documentation of spaces fostering the teaching and learning of transversal competences in Finland and Uruguay are presented.

3. Next, the focus shifts to a Nordic perspective on the impact of LE design on teaching, learning, and wellbeing. Supported by analyses of floor and furniture plans, photo documentation techniques were employed in case study schools in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland.

4. We then narrow the focus to Finland to reflect on how general learning space layout typologies have evolved in Finnish school buildings.

5. The next presentation puts together Nordic (Norway) and Mediterranean (Spain) teachers’ perceptions of transforming school spaces and pedagogies.

6. We continue exploring Southern European perspectives, beginning with Portugal. The presentation analyses a co-design approach to renewing a modernist heritage school to meet contemporary educational needs.

7. Then we will visit Italy, where pre-school teachers’ discussions of the design and potential changes to their rooms to enhance children’s free play and pedagogical work were analysed as part of the European CoReD project.

8. Finally, we reflect on current policies and system needs related to innovative and sustainable LEs across Europe. The concluding presentation focuses on results from the first phase of the ongoing “Collaborative Learning Communities for Redesigning Primary Education Towards Innovative and Sustainable Learning Environments” (ISLE) project, involving participants from Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Spain, and Sweden.

An internationally growing body of research on LE design, including the studies presented in this symposium, highlights the need for transdisciplinary collaboration between educational and architectural researchers and practitioners in the research-based LE design that merge innovative technologies and spaces with innovative teaching and learning practices, foster wellbeing, and ensure that LEs are environmentally, culturally, economically, and socially sustainable. The studies presented in the symposium also confirm that changes in the space design do not automatically lead to changes in teaching practices (Baars et al., 2023; Brøns, 2021). Educators need environmental or spatial awareness and competencies—i.e., the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to design and use versatile and adaptable, technology-enhanced physical spaces to support teaching, learning, and wellbeing (Bøjer & Woolner, 2024).

The international expansion of Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs) has generated growing transdisciplinary interest in understanding not only the impact of ILEs, but also the conditions and processes that enable effective implementation. This presentation integrates findings from three complementary studies conducted in Spain and Norway. For these studies, ILEs are understood as flexible, technology-enabled spaces designed to permit and facilitate collaborative student-centred learning (Blannin et al., 2020). It draws on models of educational change that frame innovation as the dynamic interplay between pedagogy, space, and technology, positioning pedagogy as the central catalyst for transformation (Silander & Ryymin, 2015; French et al., 2022). Two quantitative studies were conducted in Spain to examine how school transformation processes and physical environments interact to support pedagogical innovation. The first study (Granda-Pinan et al., 2025) analysed transformation processes in 46 schools implementing ILEs, focusing on teachers’ perceptions of impact, organisational strategies, professional development, and facilitating factors. Results indicate that ILE-oriented transformations are associated with positive perceived impacts on student engagement, learning climate, academic performance, and the adoption of student-centred methodologies. Key conditions for success included strategic planning, sustained professional development, distributed leadership, stakeholder involvement and regular opportunities for collective reflection. The second study (Granda-Pinan et al., 2026) adopted a comparative approach, analysing responses from 228 teachers working in either traditional classrooms or ILEs, regarding spaces, furniture, environmental conditions, and perceived professional competence in the pedagogical use of space. Teachers working in ILEs reported significantly more positive evaluations of spatial flexibility, furniture suitability, environmental quality, and their own competence to plan and manage learning activities in diverse spaces. Both groups share similar priorities when initiating spatial change—such as improving classroom space and furniture. The third study, based on qualitative data from observations and interviews with six teachers in three Norwegian primary schools, employed a sociomaterial perspective to examine the emerging learning spaces through teaching practices. The study highlights how local government decisions regarding furniture, digital devices, and spatial design continue shaping the learning spaces through classroom practices long after the buildings are completed. The article contributes to understanding learning spaces as fluid sociomaterial assemblages that emerge through everyday negotiations between human and nonhuman actors Taken together, the results of all studies suggest that sustainable implementation of ILEs requires alignment between pedagogical vision, organisational processes, spatial design, and targeted professional development (Stavem, 2025). Transforming LEs is a complex process in which space, pedagogy, and teacher competence evolve in interaction.

Blannin, J., Mahat, M., Cleveland, B., Morris, J. & Imms, W. (2020). Teachers as Embedded Practitioner-Researchers in Innovative Learning Environments. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 10(3), 99-116. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.887 French, R., Mahat, M., Kvan, T. & Imms, W. (2022). Viewing the transition to innovative learning environments through the lens of the burke-litwin model for organizational performance and change. Journal of Educational Change, 23, 115-130. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-021-09431-5 Granda-Piñán, A. R., Taberner-Perales, E., Tarín-Moreno, S. & Ferrer-Lores, S. (2025). Schools being transformed: quantitative study about Innovative Learning Environments. Revista Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 39(3), 115-132. https://doi.org/10.47553/rifop.v39i3.110134 Granda-Pinan, A.R., Melgarejo Belenguer, M., Martínez-Marcos, A. & García Aleix, S. (2026). From traditional classrooms to Innovative Learning Environments: Teachers’ perceptions of Space, Furniture, and Environmental Conditions. Rita Indexed Journal of Academic Texts, in press. Silander, P., & Ryymin, E. (2015). Towards new learning environments: Phenomenon-based learning and digitalization. Finnish National Board of Education. Stavem, S. M. (2025). The Emergence of Learning Spaces Through Teaching Practices (A. E. Toft & M. Rönn, Eds). Nordic Academic Press of Architectural Research.

Built in 1936 as part of Portugal’s modernising drive, José Falcão Secondary School in Coimbra exemplifies functionalist ideals - clarity of plan, hygienist light and air, and rational layouts designed for progressive pedagogy. Nearly ninety years of continuous use, however, have left the building with deteriorated materials, poor environmental comfort and inflexible facilities that no longer serve current curricular, accessibility or digital demands (Coelho, 2018). The school is also recognised for its heritage value and strong civic attachment, making any intervention both urgent and delicate. This presentation reports on a research-in-action project led by the University of Coimbra to reimagine the secondary school as an adaptable, equitable and future‑ready learning environment while safeguarding its architectural significance. Commissioned by the Municipality of Coimbra, the project positions the school community – students, teachers, staff, alumni and local stakeholders – as co‑authors of change, moving beyond earlier top‑down refurbishment models in Portugal. Methodologically, the work combines whole‑building architectural design with a multi‑modal participatory programme. The approach builds on the Survey on Student School Spaces (S3S) framework, developed through the European project CoReD (Coelho et al., 2022), and reinterprets it for the Portuguese context to ensure the voices of the entire school community shape the transformation. Tools include an online questionnaire (over 500 responses), guided walkthroughs of specific domains (e.g., laboratories, arts and sports), workshops, interviews, collective mapping, photovoice and school assemblies. These activities elicit everyday spatial practices, surface both tangible and intangible heritage values, and translate lived experience into a collaboratively defined functional brief. To date, the team has synthesised the community evidence with modernist design principles to shape a programme that prioritises inclusive circulation, improved environmental performance, and flexible learning ecologies distributed across the school’s plot, while respecting the building’s typological clarity. The participatory cycle has also revealed productive tensions between preservation and transformation, memory and innovation, which have been systematically embedded into design guidelines for subsequent architectural development. In September 2025, the project was presented to the public at the Municipality of Coimbra and is now ready to move into the construction phase. This case demonstrates how co‑design can reconcile heritage preservation with contemporary educational imperatives, ensuring community voices shape the renewal of a protected modernist school.

Coelho, C. (2018). In search of modernist adaptability. A systematic approach for discussing the adaptive reuse potential of José Falcão School. Joelho. Journal of Architectural Culture #9. Reuse of Modernist Buildings: pedagogy and profession, n. 9, 202-223. e|d|arq - Department of Architecture. https://doi.org/10.14195/1647-8681_9_12 Coelho, C., Cordeiro, A., Alcoforado, L., & Moniz, G. C. (2022). Survey on Student School Spaces: An inclusive design tool for a better school. Buildings, 12 (4), 392. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12040392

The present article examines the manner in which the visual, participatory Diamond Ranking Method (Stadler-Altmann, 2023; Clark et al. 2013) supports educational professionals in reflecting on and further developing learning spaces in kindergartens and schools as malleable educational settings (Niemi, Kumpulainen & Lipponen, 2015). As posited by Amann and Hirschauer (1997), and further elaborated by Gördel (2018), the group-based Diamond Rankings, accompanied by photographic examples of authentic educational environments, facilitate the reconstruction of processes of alienation, deceleration, and self-reflection. This reconstruction involves the disruption of habitual spatial perception routines, thereby rendering hitherto unnoticed potentialities visible (Gördel, 2018). The study was carried out as part of the CoReD project (https://www.ncl.ac.uk/cored/) at a total of three kindergartens in the autonomous province of South Tyrol, Italy. A qualitative content analysis of the group interviews reveals that the method instigates a structured yet results-oriented negotiation process. In this process, the perspectives of the target group (i.e. children and teachers) are systematically incorporated, cross-connections between spatial segments are established, and prioritised design decisions are made (Gördel, 2022). In the conference paper, this empirical finding is linked to current discourses on learning space design, which understand learning spaces as shared 'educational spaces' (Weyland, Stadler-Altmann, Galetti & Kuno, 2019) co-designed by architecture, design and pedagogy, in which spatial quality, well-being and learning culture are closely intertwined (Stadler-Altmann, 2025). The proposal is that Diamond Ranking should be established as a research-based resource for design thinking in the context of school construction and change processes. The objective of this initiative is to enhance participatory planning processes and to systematically integrate pedagogically inspired, forward-looking learning space design with the perspective of users.

Clark, J., Laing, K., Tiplady, L. & Woolner, P. (2013) Making Connections: Theory and Practice of Using Visual Methods to Aid Participation in Research. Research Centre for Learning and Teaching, Newcastle University. Gördel, Bettina-Maria (2022). The Diamond Ranking-Method from the Perspective of South Tyrolean Educators. Research report CoReD South Tyrol Gördel, Bettina-Maria (2018). Pädagogische Beobachtung als ästhetische Wahrnehmungslehre. Konzept zur kulturellen Personal- und Unterrichtsentwicklung. In Braun, Tom/ Fuchs, Max (Ed.), Kulturelle Unterrichtsentwicklung. Grundlagen – Konzeptionen – Beispiele. Weinheim/ Basel: Beltz Juventa, p. 320-332. Niemi, R., Kumpulainen, K., & Lipponen, L. (2015). Pupils as active participants: Diamond ranking as a tool to investigate pupils’ experiences of classroom practices. European Educational Research Journal, 14(2), 138-150. Stadler-Altmann, Ulrike (2025), Lernumgebung Schule: Wie gestalten wir das Gebaute pädagogisch? Sustainability Paper 6. Architektenkammer Hessen, 30-37. Stadler-Altmann, Ulrike (2023). Pictorial and Spatial Image Learning – Using Diamond Ranking to Understand Students’ Perception of Learning Environment. In: Villa, D., Zuccoli, F. (eds) Proceedings of the 3rd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Image and Imagination. IMG 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 631. Springer, Cham. Weyland, Beate; Stadler-Altmann, Ulrike; Galetti, Alessandra; Prey, Kuno (2019), Scuole in Movimento. Progettare insieme tra pedagogia, architettura e design, Franco Angeli.

Policymakers and practitioners emphasize the need to redesign school environments to respond to changing learner and societal needs. This implies that adaptive, competency-based, and inclusive learning systems should be developed (Darling-Hammond, 2008). In this context, the European Innovative and Sustainable Learning Environments project aims to promote educational quality, equity and inclusion through supporting schools to establish innovative and sustainable learning environments (ISLEs). This paper presents the theoretical framework and the main results of the first project phase. In the first part of the presentation, innovative learning environments are defined as flexible, student-centered spaces that aim to promote collaboration, inclusivity, and adaptability in teaching and learning. Innovation is also connected to ecological, social, economic, and cultural sustainability in the LE design. Three key dimensions of learning environments are considered: a) Physical (i.e., the architectural and spatial design and ICT infrastructure), b) Pedagogical (i.e., the teaching methods and learning strategies applied), and c) Psychosocial (i.e., the relationships, culture, and emotional climate that shape learning experiences). Quality, equity, and inclusion are seen as distinct but deeply interrelated. Together, they form the foundation for effective, fair, and inclusive education. Specifically, quality is seen as a multidimensional concept that focuses on promoting student learning, development, and wellbeing (Kyriakides et al., 2021). Regarding equity, we adopt the fairness perspective by aiming to reduce the effect of fixed background factors such as SES, gender, and ethnicity on student learning outcomes (Kyriakides et al., 2018). Finally, inclusion involves creating LEs where all students—regardless of ability, background, or identity—feel valued, respected, and supported (Alterator et al., 2022; Mezzanotte & Calvel, 2023). Barriers to participation should be removed to ensure that every learner can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. The first phase of the project was concerned with the mapping of the current policies and systems’ needs in participating countries (i.e., Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Spain and Sweden). The paper provides an overview of the main findings emerged from desk-research (mapping existing policies at each country) and field-research (identifying the school-level and system-level needs). Quantitative data from a questionnaire administered to teachers of all participating countries and qualitative data from interviews with various stakeholders were collected. These results support designing a school-wide professional development program which will be delivered to in-service and pre-service teachers and school leaders during the second phase of the project. Finally, implications of findings for research, policy and practice are drawn.

Alterator, S., Cleveland, B., & Boys, J. (2022). The evaluation of inclusive school environments: A scoping review of the literature. IUL Research, 3(6), 271–294. https://doi.org/10.57568/iulres.v3i6.313 Darling-Hammond, L. (2008). Teacher learning that supports student learning. In B. Z. Presseisen (Ed.), Teaching for intelligence (2nd ed., pp. 91–100). Corwin Press. Kyriakides, L., Creemers, B.P.M., & Charalambous, E. (2018). Equity and Quality Dimensions in Educational Effectiveness. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer. Kyriakides, L., Creemers, B.P.M., Panayiotou, A., & Charalambous, E. (2021). Quality and Equity in Education: Revisiting Theory and Research on Educational Effectiveness and Improvement. London and New York: Routledge. Mezzanotte, C., & Calvel, C. (2023). Indicators of inclusion in education A framework for analysis. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1787/d94f3bd8-en