Designing and building safer schools using two visual methods for teacher evaluation

• Introduces Mapping and Diamond Ranking as tools for evaluating school safety. • Reveals how adult presence and clear spatial definitions enhance safety perceptions. • Identifies privacy and supervision issues in changing rooms as key safety challenges. • Adapts Gislason's model to integrate safety dimensions for school design analysis. • Demonstrates the value of participatory methods in designing safer school environments. Ensuring safety in school environments is a fundamental right for children, essential for fostering learning, well-being, and inclusivity. This study examines how physical design, organizational structure, educational upbringing, and social dynamics interact to influence safety in schools. Given that adult presence and professional judgments are essential to ensuring students’ right to safety, this study analyses teachers’ evaluations using two visual methods to explore how such rights are practically interpreted and enacted in school spaces. Using two complementary visual methods, Mapping and Diamond Ranking, teacher evaluations were analyzed to identify critical factors shaping perceptions of safety. The findings suggest the importance of adult presence, clearly defined spaces, and a sense of ownership in creating safe environments. Conversely, poorly designed areas, such as corridors and changing rooms, were associated with unsafety due to privacy concerns and inadequate supervision. By adapting Gislason’s school environment model to include dimensions of safety, this study offers a framework to understand how design and social factors intersect in shaping safe schools. The findings may provide insights for architects, planners, and educators seeking to foster safer and more inclusive school environments that support educational outcomes.