FLEXIBILITY, MOBILITY, ADAPTABILITY
Richard Picking, Marketing Director of Gratnells, offers some thoughts about the
future for school furniture
T
he healthy learning environment
is a composite of elements,
apart from the obvious bricks
and
mortar
requirements
teachers need bright, light and secure
classrooms where colour abounds and
learning resources are plentiful.
More than ever the creation of a child-
centred environment relies on a mix of
form and function – a balance between
free creativity and good order. This is
where good furniture design comes
into its own to help the teaching
process.
Flexibility, adaptability and mobility
are the key attributes in helping to
create the range of different work
spaces needed to foster children’s
creativity while ensuring an efficient
system of storage and resource.
Affordable modular systems do exist
now to create a range of layouts,
adapting to the needs and size of the
learner group and the subjects being
taught. Designing a literacy corner,
organising art groups or facilitating
a science demonstration, require
very different arrangements.
The
good news is that colourful, practical,
lightweight and mobile storage,
display and racking units can integrate
with standard room arrangements
such as nested tables in groups to help
deliver these alternatives.
Regimentation is rarely the answer
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Sep - Oct 2017
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and many schools are bold and
experimental with layouts, using
smaller groupings for practical work
and circular or u-shaped layouts for
more formal teaching. If this raises
fears of a degree of chaos, integrating
modular storage systems with the
furniture will achieve that balance
between good teaching and good
order.
At primary and junior level, the accent
is likely to be on the teacher’s ability
to see the faces of every child and
for the children to interact with each
other as much as possible. As learners
become more mature and their social
interaction much more spontaneous,
then there is more of a premium on
the furniture and systems supporting
integral elements of the teaching
mix, such as; science, technology and
advanced practical study. In arts too,
the need for a disciplined system of
storage and archiving is required, to
keep creative materials and 'works in
progress', in pristine condition.
Trends now include the increasing
functionality of system elements
such as the development of trolleys
which integrate with storage and
stacking systems. These can literally
be rolled out to support an art class
with materials, a nature project with
samples or a science group with
equipment. Other more specialist
applications have been developed, for
example a unit which not only stores
Class Time
tablets and other hand held mobiles
securely, but acts as a charging station
so that devices are always ready for
use.
Providers are finding new ways to
work in education, adapting and
adopting the new technologies,
without abandoning time honoured
requirements such as comfort and
safety, in pursuit of the optimum
balance between a stimulating
creative environment and an efficient,
flexible learning infrastructure.