Quality Aspects of the Physical Learning Environment in Relation to Teaching in Swedish School-age Educare

The curriculum states that Swedish school-age educare (SAEC) should offer students a meaningful leisure time and stimulate their development and learning through SAEC teaching, which is defined as a combination of care, development, and learning. In recent decades SAEC has relocated from a social to an educational arena with a different governance, teacher qualifications, terminology, physical location, and integration within schools (Boström & Augustsson, 2016). Studies have highlighted problems related to the conditions of the physical learning environment (Boström & Augustsson, 2016; Lager, 2020), although the empirical research in this field is limited. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate how the physical learning environment, from a staff perspective, enables or limits teaching in four SAEC centers. This is important, in that according to Harms et al. (2014), pedagogical quality in extended educational settings arises in interaction between features that include physical, organizational, and social aspects. The study concludes that regionalization, dimensioning, layout of the premises, and organizational aspects, together with the staff’s psychological ownership and/or subordination, have a clear impact on the nature and quality of teaching, the staff’s opportunities to develop their teaching, and the students’ possible choices and activities.