Development and application of a framework for managing school buildings: A case study in New Zealand

Managing school buildings is critical for any community because the buildings are not only supposed to provide a pleasant and safe environment for staff and students, but they are also a clearly visible representation of the education system. Therefore, it is important to ensure that school buildings are well managed through their life cycle. However, managing school buildings is challenging due to various reasons. This study aims to develop a framework that can help solve challenges in managing school buildings and illustrate the benefit of this framework using schools in New Zealand as a case study. The primary data of this research was collected through 34 semi-structured interviews with schools’ top managers in two phases: Phase 1 (16 interviews) to identify the challenges that schools are facing in managing their buildings; Phase 2 (18 interviews) to verify and validate the new framework for managing school buildings in NZ. The findings reveal that building maintenance in NZ lacks a shared vision, competent people, resources, information management, and performance evaluation. The findings of this study contribute to the broader discussion of managing existing buildings by promoting communication, training, information collection, and lesson sharing. This study also proposes recommendations on how to implement the framework to achieve effective and efficient management of school buildings. Findings of this study can be used as guidance for school stakeholders to manage their buildings effectively and can be adjusted to be used for other types of buildings.