A Forgotten Age of Open-air Schools
The old black and white photograph above pops out at me every now and again on the internet, and it just about sums up my feelings on what my education should have looked like. The photograph was taken in 1957 in the Netherlands where open air schools were quite popular at the time. The idea of an al fresco classroom should be a very obvious one if the weather permits it, but unfortunately, most traditional western schools these days don’t put much emphasis on the benefits of learning outside of four walls.
But with Spring racing around the corner, I decided to look a little further into this photograph to see if I couldn’t find more examples of open air schools that might plant the seed. As the sunshine provocatively creeps over my own work desk, beckoning me to burst out of the office, this is a call to our educators and teachers– swing open those windows, let the birds listen in and introduce Spring to the classroom …
In the early 20th century, open air schools became fairly common in Northern Europe, originally designed to prevent and combat the widespread rise of tuberculosis that occurred in the period leading up to the Second World War. Schools were built on the concept that exposure to fresh air, good ventilation and exposure to the outside were paramount!
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