The Education Department’s airconditioning policy, which has been in place since the 1990s, states that only public schools north of the Great Dividing Range, special schools and new portable classrooms are provided with cooling. All other state schools must fund their own airconditioning, a luxury many can’t afford. Brunswick South West Primary doesn’t have the $125,000 it needs to install airconditioning in its historic second-storey classrooms. West-facing windows and the lack of airconditioning make the classrooms at Brunswick South West Primary extremely hot. Credit:Joe Armao While it recently received a $4.1 million state government grant to modernise its classrooms, capital funding is not allowed to be spent on airconditioning.

Languishing in a hot classroom can make it difficult for students to learn, according to a growing body of research. You might have the same IQ as someone in a school with airconditioning, but because you are sitting in a hot classroom, you have less knowledge when you finish high school. Sebastian Pfautsch, Western Sydney University A US study found that learning outcomes decrease by about 1.5 per cent for each 2-degree increase in temperature. Sebastian Pfautsch, a senior research fellow in Urban Ecosystem Science at Western Sydney University, said this created an uneven playing field. “You might have the same IQ as someone in a school with airconditioning, but because you are sitting in a hot classroom, you have less knowledge when you finish high school.”

Students swelter through a hot day at Brunswick South West Primary. Credit:Joe Armao Dr Pfautsch, who has researched hot classrooms in Sydney, said the optimal learning temperature was between 22 and 24 degrees. “If you are sitting above that you are providing a classroom where it is difficult to concentrate. Students will be slacking off.” As the temperature soared into the 30s during the first week of school, Christina Savic’s son Luca suffered two blood noses in his hot classroom. “He tends to get them in the heat,” she said.

She said it was difficult for students to learn in hot classrooms, and teachers must also find the conditions difficult to work in. Another mother at the northern suburbs state school, who did not want to be named, said her son developed a headache on the first day of school. “He was feeling distressed,” she said. “He came out of the classroom in tears, he looked terrible."

A week later, she was called into school after her son became unwell during morning classes. He vomited at the local doctor's surgery and the family was referred to the Royal Children’s Hospital. The mother believes the hot classroom conditions were a significant factor in her son's illness. School council president Ross Allen, who has two children at the school, said Australia had become a lot hotter since the department created its airconditioning policy 30 years ago. “There are a few things that have changed in that time including the number of extreme heat days and the maximum temperatures we are receiving,” he said.

He said while new school buildings should keep students cool by incorporating passive cooling and thermal insulation designs, airconditioning was sometimes a necessity for older schools like Brunswick South West Primary School. “The state government is spending significant money upgrading schools and that's wonderful, but there's a risk that we’ll have these really wonderful learning spaces that are too hot to learn in.” A government spokesman said airconditioning was provided to schools with the highest needs based on climate zone locations. He said airconditioning could be funded by schools within existing facility budgets. Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said all students and staff were entitled to comfortable workplaces.