A Research Project undertaken by undergraduate students in The Faculty of the Built Environment, Session 1, 2002. It was initiated and supported by The University of NSW Chancellor Dr. John Yu, FBE staff members Ann Quinlan and Linda Corkery and The NSW Commission for Children and Young People.

Course Leader: Ann Quinlan, Linda Corkery           Course Coordinator: Jane Castle

Project Background:
The project arose from a recognition that

• toilets in schools were perceived by stakeholders to be in a dreadful condition
• their design is informed by historical, monocultural  social views
• they are a low priority for resourcing

Even though they are an essential and formative experience for every child in every school in Australia.

Elective Proposals:
A "green fields" approach provided opportunities for student-initiated investigations of the literature, precedents and site visits to schools in Sydney.

• UNSW is running another elective in 2003 looking at Children, Toilets and Schools, this time with a focus on design. The feedback from the 2002 course has been that schools are desperate to act on this issue, but have no funding or resources to work with. The students in 2003 will be asked to come up with practical, inexpensive design solutions that may be implemented at the school level to improve the condition of toilets.
• The NSW Commission for Children and Young People is facilitating a steering committee of academics from different universities and representatives from government and industry to pursue the goal of improving the condition of and experiences in toilets for children in schools.
  

The six projects made various findings about the state of school toilets in Sydney. Across the projects, certain key issues came out in different ways. These were:

1. Responsibility and ownership – there is no one person who takes responsibility for the toilets in schools. Teachers, students, librarians, cleaners, parents etc all have areas of responsibility in schools, but none see their role as overseeing the security, cleanliness, upkeep and state of toilets. In private schools, toilets are seen as part of the school’s marketing and are often better maintained for this reason.

2. Location – toilets are often located in remote backwater areas of the school, increasing feelings of insecurity felt by children and leaving the toilets more prone to vandalism and bullying. Ideally toilets would have a direct relationship to classrooms to control age groups and surveillance while reducing the institutional feel of toilets.

3. Low budget solutions – although high costs are involved in rebuilding or relocating toilets, there are also low-budget approaches that have worked well in some schools, eg student ownership / participation in toilet facilities, fixing water leaks (which leave the toilet blocks dank and unsafe), appropriate partition heights, door locks, good lighting, simple raised steps to help smaller children use sinks and toilets, longer chains (so small children can flush the toilet), unbroken toilet seats, painting / murals / colour – eg created in working bees with the help of students and parents.

If you have any comments regarding the project or information you wish to share about toilets in schools, please feel free to write in the form below and press "submit".

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• Disability Discrimination Act
• NSW Commission for Children and Young People
• UK children on school toilets
• Article in Journal of Child: Care, Health and Development, 29, 1,47 -53