The spaces of inclusive primary school: connections and disharmony between regulations concerning school buildings and the objectives of the educational system

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. Policy development, which aims to physical construction of a school, is the combination of different fields of knowledge and interest. When a new state law that regulates the education system under different parameters that were being following is promulgated, development regulations applied to the field of school buildings appear. This dynamic occurs in the knowledge that the configuration of space implies a certain type of school and an organization of this type. In this paper we propose to discover whether the basic rules governing school construction in Spain are the most appropriate to achieve an inclusive school, and which are the specific rules being applied in the Autonomous Community of Galicia. METHOD. We have made a general review of the Royal Decree 132, considering the idea of getting an inclusive school set out in the State Education Law, applying the criteria for assessing the contributions of different working fields, studying the relationship between environment and person. We have also consulted two experts from the Department of Education of the Galician regional government to investigate the use of regulations in the region. RESULTS. We have found that the legislation does not fit as it could to create an inclusive school. DISCUSSION. The regulation is underlying the idea of a traditional school, which does not take into account the contributions of some relevant research and that in the Galician Community a repealed legislation is being used as an instrument to concrete the actions concerning to school buildings.