ETUSIVU HENKILÖKUNTA LUOKAT OPETUS YHTEYSTIEDOT KALENTERI UUTISIA IN ENGLISH

ARABIA COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL CONTACT Arabian peruskoulu – Arabia comprehensive school Arabianpolku 1 PL 3315 FI - 00099 Helsingin kaupunki http://www.arabpk.edu.hel.fi Helsinki has a new comprehensive school. The building of The Arabia comprehensive school was finished in summer 2003. The school is located just a few kilometers from the town center, in Arabianranta area. Arabianranta is a part of the inner city of Helsinki. The Arabia comprehensive school was taken in use in the beginning of the school term, autumn 2003. The school is designed for 18 basic education groups and 3 special education groups, altogether for about 560 students. At moment the school has around 317 pupils and over 30 teachers. The Arabia comprehensive school provide basic education for lower and upper stages, classes 1 – 9 and 10. We also have special education studying in a regular classes and in special classes as well as part time special education. We also have multicultural education. Our study programme will stress on art and craft subjects, as well as environment and natural science. We also have many projects in arts and local history with other education units in Arabianranta area. We have made a decision to develop our school buildings and get them to function more effectively and better to answer the demands of the future. Our aim is to combine the highest quality of architecture with economic viability. One of our main ideas is to serve all people, all the schools and all the suburbs effectively and equal. Schools should prepare pupils for the society of the future. Up until very recently all school buildings have been planned in the same way as one hundred years ago. Let’s look at the differences between a traditional school building and a new one. In traditional school buildings there are long corridors, individual classrooms, all the same size, closed doors and each teacher working alone with the pupils there is a separate teachers room and other staff has their own restrooms in the basement. Each group of personnel is placed in different rooms and therefore in different worlds. This kind of school building is a familiar all over the world. The Arabia comprehensive school is one example of our new schools. Where are the long corridors? The school building is divided into small units of few classrooms. There are doors between classrooms for working together. There are glass walls for interaction. In each unit there is space for group work and a working room for the unit staff. There is no longer the old fashion teachers’ room; instead we have the cafeteria for the whole staff. School is a multifunctional concept, not only a place for teaching and learning, but also a place for social interaction – for children and adults. Outside of normal school hours schools can develop into small community centres. For this reason every school building will be designed separately guaranteeing that each school is individually tailored to its own curricula and to its own location. We used to have a lot architecture Competitios in Helsinki. The best architects must design our schools. Specially elected teachers are involved in the process at all the planning stages. The teacher attends the working group concerned with functional details. Other members of the working group are the architect in charge of planning, the school development architect, and experts in various fields such as teachers of specific subjects, experts on special education, a labour safety expert and the personnel responsible for catering and cleaning. The school building should always reflect respect towards education. It shows how much weight the politicians and the administration put to education. Particularly in developing urban areas, the first class architecture school building provides a very important function by offering a sense of identity. The use of a lot of glass in the school building guarantees the safety inside: you can always see, you can always be seen, and you can always get help when needed. One of our goals is to improve the function inside the school building. How can we do all this? We have 4 key words: vision, communication, inclusion and satisfaction. What do they mean? Vision: Various pedagogical visions should be possible in a new school building. The building itself must be multifunctional and has to be able to offer flexibility. Communication: The working environment must be open and communicative for both children and adults. The whole building is a place for interaction. Inclusion: A school for everybody: there is place for individual work, as well for group work. Pupils with special needs will be integrated. Satisfaction: The environment should encourage work. The environment should encourage learning.