TY - GEN
T1 - Window Opening Behaviours in Irish Primary Schools
T2 - 17th International Conference on Sustainability in Energy and Buildings, SEB 2025
AU - Honan, D.
AU - Littlewood, J. R.
AU - Garvey, J.
AU - Gallagher, J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.
PY - 2026/4/1
Y1 - 2026/4/1
N2 - This paper presents findings from a pilot survey of ten primary school teachers to evaluate indoor air quality (IAQ) in naturally ventilated (NV) classrooms in Ireland. The survey explored factors influencing window opening behaviour, including responsibility, motivating conditions, and perceived comfort under hypothetical weather scenarios. Analysis combined descriptive statistics with thematic interpretation, and findings were compared with international literature to assess their relevance to the Irish context. Despite the small sample size, the results aligned with broader studies, confirming that teachers primarily controlled ventilation based on subjective perceptions of thermal comfort and IAQ. Classrooms were perceived as more comfortable when windows were open, particularly in mild or warm conditions. Windows were primarily opened for cooling and fresh air, and closed to retain warmth, with barriers including concerns over heat loss, rain, and noise. The findings highlight the complexity of predicting window opening behaviour and underscore the importance of developing teacher awareness and context-specific ventilation strategies that objectively balance thermal comfort with IAQ, providing a foundation for future research into ventilation enhancements in Irish primary schools.
AB - This paper presents findings from a pilot survey of ten primary school teachers to evaluate indoor air quality (IAQ) in naturally ventilated (NV) classrooms in Ireland. The survey explored factors influencing window opening behaviour, including responsibility, motivating conditions, and perceived comfort under hypothetical weather scenarios. Analysis combined descriptive statistics with thematic interpretation, and findings were compared with international literature to assess their relevance to the Irish context. Despite the small sample size, the results aligned with broader studies, confirming that teachers primarily controlled ventilation based on subjective perceptions of thermal comfort and IAQ. Classrooms were perceived as more comfortable when windows were open, particularly in mild or warm conditions. Windows were primarily opened for cooling and fresh air, and closed to retain warmth, with barriers including concerns over heat loss, rain, and noise. The findings highlight the complexity of predicting window opening behaviour and underscore the importance of developing teacher awareness and context-specific ventilation strategies that objectively balance thermal comfort with IAQ, providing a foundation for future research into ventilation enhancements in Irish primary schools.
KW - Classrooms
KW - Indoor air quality
KW - Irish primary schools
KW - Natural ventilation
KW - Window opening behaviour
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105040965972
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-032-14677-9_8
DO - 10.1007/978-3-032-14677-9_8
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:105040965972
SN - 9783032146762
T3 - Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies
SP - 82
EP - 91
BT - Sustainability in Energy and Buildings 2025
A2 - Littlewood, John
A2 - Gagliano, Antonio
A2 - Howlett, Robert J.
A2 - Jain, Lakhmi C.
PB - Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Y2 - 17 September 2025 through 19 September 2025
ER -