Comparison is an essential research method (see Morlino 2018) in educational research. We use comparison as an academic instrument to grasp its necessity and its effective purpose for research on school buildings. Based on school visits in Iceland, Italy and UK we – the interdisciplinary research group DRAPES (Design, Research and Practice in Educational Spaces) – discuss the research method of comparison in an interdisciplinary way (see Könings et al. 2017) and in a team of educational researchers, architects and sociologists. We develop instruments for comparing school buildings and explain the importance of well-designed school buildings for inclusion and exclusion in teaching and learning.

The case studies of the school visits give us the opportunity to compare and to reflect on these challenges, finding common ideas, methods and solutions. One result of these is the shared belief that teachers and students need a more democratic and humanistic learning space. The space is a necessary precondition to fulfil future goals in school policies, teaching and learning and pedagogical practices (see Stadler-Altmann, 2015), such as the challenge for schools to be inclusive schools.

Visiting an Icelandic school (in 2015) designed by Bruce Jilk we develop our aims of shared exploration and understanding, in passing reflecting on the value of a 'study trip' as a methodology. We would reflect on the architecture, particularly in relation to the built results of recent school building programmes in Portugal and the UK. We also tried to develop a method to compare a school and the observed practice for further interdisciplinary research projects.

The visit to Italy (South Tyrol) in 2016 introduced the research team to an interesting policy of planning schools from kindergarten to high school around a particular pedagogy, either renovating old school or developing new buildings to support this pedagogy. Considering that each school is a specific universe, South Tyrol promoted a participatory process for each school project with architects, pedagogist, school leaders, teachers and parents. Our developed research method for interdisciplinary research is practiced here, as a possibility of shared impressions, discussions and development of school through designing physical learning environment.

Visiting schools in Newcastle, UK and surrounding area in 2017, we describe and analyse the situation of using school building in an innovative practise without the possibility to rebuild or to renovate them. As a comparison, we show the functional use of well-designed school buildings in Iceland, Italy (South Tyrol) and UK.

Based on different educational and architectural perspectives we highlight aspects of good design for school buildings, the policy behind it, how people use it and its effects on educational practices. The complexity of the interaction of policies, practice and people in school is notable, but also evident is the important role schools, classrooms and schoolyards play in facilitating successful teaching and learning (see Sigurðardóttir & Hjartarson, 2016).

We articulate some interdisciplinary and intercultural lessons from school visits across Europe to school buildings that, through their design, support a new culture of teaching and learning and the opportunity to become an inclusive school.

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