Making Schools 'Staff-friendly' - a phenomenological study of school buildings, organisation and working conditions, and their effect on the wellbeing of school workers

This thesis is a phenomenological study of school architecture, organisation and working conditions, and their effect on the wellbeing of school workers. Approaching school life from the twin perspectives of ex-architect and ex-teacher, I ask what is it like – whether as teacher, support worker or administrator - to work in a school, here and now? Are there architectural and organisational features that, in combination, establish the working conditions of school staff in ways that have consequences for their wellbeing? Are there such things as ‘staff-friendly’ schools? My research explores these questions by studying the state secondary schools in Cambridgeshire, with data gathered throughout the school year of 2021-22, the year after the Covid pandemic. Schools were returning to their ‘new normal’ and the recruitment and retention of staff, in particular teachers, were matters of both national and international concern. The thesis is constructed, rather like a building, in three parts. Part One is the sub-structure, the theoretical and methodological grounding of the argument. Part Two is the central structure; case studies of four very different schools, observing their context, the people that work there, and their everyday lives. Data was gathered using ethnographic, visual and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methods and drawing on a mixed methods research process to produce material suitable for Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS). Part Three is the super-structure, the ‘topping-out’ of the building so to speak. Patterns are identified through cross-case analysis, possible design requirements and constraints are reviewed, and ideas about ‘staff-friendly’ schools are proposed and explored. My research findings fall into four categories: first, thick descriptions of the working lives of school workers reveal what matters to them; second, observations of the variables in individual working lives and self-concepts to show how these affect their wellbeing; third, the architectural facilities and features that have an effect on staff wellbeing; and fourth, the organisational working conditions that have a bearing on the employee experience in schools. The emergent patterns shed light on the often mundane yet meaningful aspects of the working lives of school staff. Their significance lies in the fact that they capture the lives of all workers in school, and not just that of teachers. In doing so, they point to what is important to the adults in schools, aspects often overlooked in the child-focussed planning and running of schools. Their value lies in indicating practical actions that can be taken to improve working conditions, in both architectural and organisational design, thereby improving wellbeing with consequent benefits to recruitment, retention and pupil outcomes. By proposing a theory of the ‘staff-friendly school’, these research findings enlarge the range of policy options available to education managers seeking school improvement.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Baker, David

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Robertson, Susan

• phenomenology, school workers. school architecture, school organisation, working conditions, wellbeing, employee experience, mixed methods, ‘staff-friendly’ schools

Licence

• https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/37f5750b-60d9-4efd-8124-23f19a1cdd1d/download
• http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.119685

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/386498