Recently a university
researcher spent a couple of days in a learning hub with year 2-4 students.
“Did you realize…”, he said afterwards, “..that at any one time, a third of
students are sat on the floor?”
It was an interesting
observation- the children weren’t sat there through necessity, it was through
choice. It suited the learning they were doing at the time. Over the next few
days I went through the hub at different times of the day and would certainly
agree with the observation.
In the past I’d
taught in a classroom of thirty students- with thirty desks, thirty chairs,
half a dozen desktop computers on a bench down the side- each with a stool, a
teaching station where there were always half a dozen children or so, some low
kneeler benches that a few students were always drawn to as well as a small
couch in the reading corner. When I think about it now I consider I had seats
for well over forty children. No wonder perhaps, that at times, moving around
the space was challenging. The trick therefore is not to simply replace
existing furniture with a similar amount of new furniture. The empty space is
important- it becomes space for learning and space for flow.
Suppliers are putting
a lot of thought into designing for flexible and innovative learning
environments. They are considering contemporary pedagogies and the styles of
furniture that best facilitate learning. When looking at what’s on offer though
it’s important to think about specific learning experiences and what you need
in order for them to succeed- before deciding what type of furniture is going
to be most suitable. What type of activity will the students be engaged in? How
many students will be working in the particular learning setting, and for how
long? What access will they need to technology and resources? What relationship
do you want to encourage between students and the teacher in this setting?
When you start to
work through this exercise it quickly becomes apparent that you don’t need
tables and chairs for all. And where you do they may well be of different
shapes, sizes and heights. When we purchased a couple of new tables for our
older learners recently they requested tall tables, about 900mm, that they
could both stand at and sit at high stools. Surprisingly, the five year olds
asked for tall tables too. Who’d have thought?
Putting time into
selecting the right furniture for the space is important- and it can take a while.
But it’s time well spent. As Hodder suggests, “procuring furniture for school
is not a simple task, and there is no ‘one- size-fits-all’ solution.” She makes
some good recommendations:
·
“Think about the different
roles involved in project development and who is involved: getting the right
furniture is a collaborative process, not a one-off decision, and should
involve conversations with stakeholders and users.
·
Build-in, or double up, on
spaces and furniture elements – steps which double as seats, corridors with
niches for private study.
·
Do consider how the furniture
you choose might support or embed certain pedagogy, including enabling creative
use of spaces and imaginative play, or encouraging different types of group
working or communication.
·
Don’t just assume the right
furniture is out there – in some cases the best results will be achieved by
creating something new to fit your school’s particular needs.
·
Equally, don’t feel you have to
start from scratch - be inspired by examples from case studies, both within the
education sector and further afield.”
One resource that has
been really useful has been the Learning Furniture workshop video. It’s been a
useful tool to work through, especially the first time furnishing a new space.
It’s available from CEFPI.
I know when we furnished
new spaces a couple of years ago there was a mindfulness to creating spaces
that weren’t too cluttered with furniture- an intentional under-furnishing if
you like. We wanted them to be spaces that were easy to move around. Better to
begin with not enough furniture than too much. You can always buy more if
you need to.
Reference
Holder, A. Furniture
for Schools. Retrieved from http://www.imagineschooldesign.org/uploads/media/Furniture_for_Schools.pdf
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