Kvaliteter för högstadieskolgårdar : exemplet Strandängsskolan i Båstad

Sammanfattning: The role of the school grounds is to support students’ health and development. Most of the research on school grounds focuses on pre- and primary school, while less is known about school grounds for adolescents. Without this knowledge, there is a risk that the perspectives of secondary school students get overlooked, or that the design solely is based on vague assumptions about their preferences. Strandängsskolan in Båstad is about to renew their school grounds, and one aim with the renewal process is to improve the outdoor environment for the secondary school students. The purpose of this study was to gather knowledge about school ground design for secondary school students, and to provide material that can inspire the progress of the secondary students’ outdoor environment at Strandängsskolan. The aim was to examine how school grounds better can be adapted to secondary students’ perspectives related to size, content and design. Through literature studies, reference studies and interviews, design principles have been produced that describe significant qualities for secondary school grounds. The result showed that school ground size, content and design in different ways can affect physical activity, nature contact and social life. For the school grounds to be adapted to secondary school students’ perspective, it should contain the following qualities: sufficient size, variation, multifunction and integrated surfaces. It is important to take part of secondary school students’ perspectives in order to counteract that the design is based on vague assumptions. The study showed that school grounds are appreciated by secondary school students, but if they are less suited to the students’ perspectives it can result in students staying indoors during the breaks. Gained knowledge about the students perspectives can contribute to that the school grounds in a better way can support secondary school students’ health and development.