Use of office furniture in the education sector

A school should provide the comfort, focus and support that students and teachers need, not only with its building or classrooms, but also with the furniture used.

Classrooms used to be places where two or three students share the same desk and teachers lectured in their tables one step higher or in front of the blackboard. However, those desks have now been replaced by single-person desks and chairs. Today, students learn collectively, work in groups and actively communicate with teachers during lessons.

Classrooms have multiple functions now. The modern learning system has a diversified structure formed by differentiating between learning as a class, as a group or as an individual. The classroom should allow for fast-paced changes to be made and should always be suitable for any setting from a wide circle with chairs lined up to a small group work, and from a teacher-oriented lesson to a focused and quiet study. For this purpose, the learning environment can be flexibly arranged with functional and easy-to-manage desks and chairs. In this way, the classroom ditches its teacher-oriented, single-point perspective and attains the character of a 'workshop' where students interact with each other and the teacher.

Education too is no longer limited to the classroom. Physical spaces in schools are expected to promote collective learning, creative thought and discussion so that students can fully benefit from active learning. Students need spaces where they can work as a group outside the classroom. Hence, learning can happen anywhere in the school. These days, school corridors are more than spaces where students can only run around during breaks. There are now comfortable sitting sets, sofas or pouffes that allow for group work in the halls or corridors, which have become spaces where students can spend time together and keep on learning.

It is very important that all the furniture throughout the school is ergonomic and that the chairs and desks can be adapted to the body size of the students who spend most of their days at the school. As part of the basic ergonomic requirements for the classroom furniture, height-adjustable desks and chairs help students avoid postural disorders. A desk that is too low for the student's height causes the student to slouch and puts stress on the spine. Conversely, a shoulder strain can occur when a desk is too high.