Exploring lived experiences of users of school built environments in the Ghanaian context of basic education

Abstract

School built environments (SBEs) are critical places of human experience. Although disparities in teaching and learning opportunities exist in basic education, it is unclear whether meanings of SBEs communicate to users manifest these disparities. This study explored the lived experiences of SBE users to understand how meanings communicated to them manifest inequality of educational opportunities in the context of Ghanaian basic education. The study collected verbal and visual data from ten participants purposively sampled from two basic schools in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipality of the Central Region of Ghana. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis of the textual data included contrasting users’ experiences, messages, and meanings emerging from the conversational interviews, close observation of physical spaces, and photographs of the SBEs. Four main themes namely: physical, functional, psychosocial, and aesthetic realities, emerged from the analysis to inform the central theme of realities of being-in-the-world of SBEs. Participants’ lived experiences were described as negative and positive. Besides, the SBEs communicated meanings of ‘neglect’ and ‘support’ to their users, which perhaps manifested inequality in educational opportunities in the context of social democracy. The study concludes that positive and supportive SBEs are more likely to enhance teaching and learning opportunities and help users fulfil their aspirations than negative and unsupportive SBEs. The results from this study deepen SBE understanding and contribute to the extant SBE knowledge. However, further research is necessary to strengthen the claim that users’ meanings of SBEs manifest inequality of educational opportunities.