What are Physical Learning Environments (PLEs) and what impact do school facilities have on education outcomes?
Physical learning environments (PLEs) refer to classrooms and spaces where students learn, the school as a whole, and the network of education facilities. They play a significant role in enhancing educational outcomes, particularly in vulnerable populations. Known as “the third teacher”, PLEs impact education outcomes. The “Clever Classrooms” study found that the learning environment explains 16% of the variation in achievement, and half of the improvement in learning outcomes is related to hard infrastructure solutions (quality of air, lighting, and temperature).
Of all education investments, PLEs have among the highest potential to help education systems mitigate and adapt to climate change, extreme weather, and natural disasters. A 10-year-old in 2024 will experience many more fires, storms, floods, and droughts in their lifetime than a 10-year-old in 1970. Over 400 million students experienced significant learning disruptions due to extreme weather events between 2022-2024. The disparities in lost learning are most pronounced in low-income countries. Together, these effects will lead to significant learning losses which will turn into significant income losses, lower productivity, and greater inequality.
School infrastructure plays an important role for climate resilience. Structural adjustments, like improved gutters and drainage or elevated foundations, as well as assessing the risk of hazards for new or existing school locations can help minimize potential flood, landslide, or earthquake damage. Reducing classroom temperature from 30 °C to 20 °C could increase performance on learning-related tasks by 20%. While installing air conditioning units in classrooms is an option that some countries have implemented, other less costly solutions range from painting rooftops white, increasing tree coverage, and designing buildings to use natural ventilation.
In light of the global learning crisis, where many children are not achieving basic literacy, education systems worldwide must ensure that their investments in learning spaces and facilities are optimized to enhance educational outcomes and address these critical gaps.
PLEs comprise the physical elements of the learning environment at three different levels:
Resilient, Inclusive, Green, Healthy, and Teaching- & Learning-Conducive (RIGHT) PLEs Effectively Implemented (+)
The RIGHT+ framework was developed by the PLE Thematic Group of the World Bank’s Education unit, in collaboration with the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery’s (GFDRR) Safer Schools Thematic Area.
Six Factors of the RIGHT+ Framework
Expand each section below to see attributes of each principle and country implementation examples:
It emphasizes resilience by selecting school locations with awareness of natural hazards, ensuring school buildings comply with building codes, implementing disaster risk mitigation and climate change adaptation plans, and enhancing performance and functional continuity of school infrastructure after hazard events. In the Kyrgyz Republic, a project called Enhancing Resilience in Kyrgyzstan (ERIK) made school facilities less likely to be damaged by earthquakes and helped create a national school infrastructure plan to reduce risks.
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Inclusivity is highlighted through fair geographical distribution of schools, gender-sensitive designs, such as separate WASH facilities for boys and girls, and ramps for accessibility. Angola's Girls Empowerment and Learning for All Project aims to reduce gender inequalities and female learning poverty by expanding secondary-level classrooms, making schools more gender-friendly, and improving WASH facilities, with a goal to create 135,000 new school seats for girls by 2025.
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Green schools prioritize energy efficiency by optimizing embodied energy, reducing every day energy use through ventilation and LED lights, harnessing renewable energy, and promoting sustainable transportation. They also conserve water, use sustainable construction materials and involve the community in design approaches. For example, the Green & Sustainable School Program in Gujarat, India, includes rainwater harvesting systems, solar energy use, and waste management. Schools in Romania are improving building insulation to reduce energy consumption, installing efficient heating and cooling systems, installing reflective roofs, and incorporating renewable energy sources such as geothermal heat pumps, solar hot water systems, and photovoltaic systems.
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Health is promoted through adequate services like electricity and clean water, maintaining good indoor air quality, lighting, temperature, acoustics, and access to green spaces, while preventing deterioration of building elements and spaces. In Tanzania, structural pilots like painting school roofs white, reduced peak temperatures by approx. 3°C, which could improve education outcomes by mitigating heat stress in classrooms. In Panama, the Ministry of Education focused on maintaining schools by cleaning green spaces, repairing plumbing, and painting buildings to ensure good conditions for learning.
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Teaching- and learning-conducive learning environments offer sufficient instructional space, engaging visuals and colors, opportunities for students ownership and choice, flexibility for diverse activities, and adequate furniture, equipment, and ICT infrastructure to enhance learning efficiency and student engagement. In Chile, CECREA Centers include diverse, adaptable spaces for creativity, gathering, debate, and leisure shaped by children’s inputs. Examples include ceiling structures for hanging elements, outdoor areas for nature activities, clean spaces for robotics, quiet lounges for reading, and soundproof spaces for music. Classrooms in Tajikistan will incorporate modern elements of learning environments like foldable walls and flexible furniture to link pedagogy and spaces.
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Effective implementation (+) of infrastructure investments is achieved through robust policy and regulatory frameworks, strategic investment planning, maintenance protocols, stakeholder integration, capacity building, and data management/analytics. In Pakistan, following the 2022 floods, a data-driven tool was developed using various data sources and machine learning to aid in planning, monitoring, and prioritizing investments in educational resilience. In Uruguay, the World Bank supports the Constructing Education Pilot, focusing on participatory school infrastructure design to enhance teaching, learning, and wellbeing, led by architects and pedagogical experts.
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The RIGHT+ factors are not provided as extra things to do, but as a practical way to address a comprehensive range of policy needs. The suggested attributes are integrated by a strong educational focus on the needs of learners.
| IS ✅ | is NOT 🚫 |
|---|---|
| The context dictates the priorities and needs | One-size fits all solution |
| Organizational scheme for planning | A linear work path |
| Gradually implemented according to the priorities | To be implemented all at once |
| RIGHT+ applies for new and existing infrastructure | Not only for new infrastructure |
| Any institution can use it | It is not only for the World Bank |
The World Bank’s Role
The World Bank finances PLE-related projects across all regions, with a growing focus on Africa and South Asia, which account for over 60% of all active PLE projects. As of 2024, around 30% of active PLE project commitments are in Eastern and Southern Africa, followed by South Asia and Western and Central Africa. Overall, between FY14-23, 77% of Education (EDU) unit operations, representing approximately 50% of education financing (over $14 billion), included PLE investments. PLE interventions are also supported by other units, especially the Urban, Resilience and Land unit and the Water unit, among others. Whenever projects include PLE interventions, the share of resources for this purpose on average reaches 46%.
Early Adopter Countries
RIGHT+ is currently being implemented in various World Bank projects.
Tajikistan – Implementation Stage
Learning Environment – Foundation of Quality Education (P177475)
The RIGHT+ principles are integrated into the Tajikistan project through the National Framework for Teaching and Learning Environments. This framework aims to reform the national school education system by linking pedagogy and learning spaces. The project focuses on designing new and improving existing schools to meet modern standards, including flexible learning environments, inclusive WASH facilities, green technologies, and broadband internet connectivity. The institutional quality assurance component ensures that teacher practices and school policies align with RIGHT principles, supported by comprehensive teacher training to leverage PLEs as a "third teacher."
Ukraine – Implementation Stage
Lifting Education Access and Resilience in times of Need in Ukraine Program (P504171)
RIGHT+ is informing the preparation of the National Education Infrastructure Strategy “Building Forward Better Education Infrastructure.” The strategy will guide the transformation of the learning environments and the investment plans for the mid and long term.
Uzbekistan – Preparation Stage
The Government of Uzbekistan will work with the World Bank to prepare a general education project. The project will include interventions in school PLEs, teaching quality, and learning assessments. The PLE investments will be structured around the RIGHT+ approach which aligns with the national goals.
If you are interested in RIGHT+ or would like to explore the possibility of applying RIGHT+ in your project, please contact the PLE team at physical_learning_environments@worldbank.org
