Furniture has a lot to say about the new ways of teaching. Until now, furniture was made with its users, the students, in mind, focusing on the ergonomics of their bodies to make them feel comfortable. The school of the future will be designed with new educational methodologies in mind, those that advocate for multiple intelligences, mobility, flexibility, and the creation of spaces where well-being, creativity, and interest are, in part, facilitated by the environment. The desk, the blackboard, the teacher’s table, and even the classroom as we have known it have their days numbered.

The new educational methodologies will transform typical classrooms into environments that are not only technological but also full of learning opportunities where furniture has a lot to contribute.

With the aim of understanding firsthand the needs of teachers and educational centers in equipping these new classrooms, the Institute of Biomechanics of Valencia (IBV) organized a “co-creation” workshop with experts in educational innovation from Valencian universities, technical staff from the purchasing department of the Ministry of Education, heads of private and semi-private schools, and also with us, as a manufacturer of school furniture.

The event served to define the classroom of the future as a “learning space” that complements the educational innovations already implemented or that will be applied in the coming years. A workshop where, through expert groups, the needs from schools or educational institutions have been translated into something practical and large-scale like design, in order to academically solve the various solutions some institutions have applied in recent years with groundbreaking results but without common patterns.

Because classrooms are changing, and it’s no longer enough to just adapt to new technologies, but the real concerns and requirements of teachers and management teams regarding the new learning methods must be taken into account. Without a doubt, it was a very interesting event whose conclusions can be translated into real indicators to work on the design of the educational furniture of the future, where we will try to be an active player.

Some articles published about this talk:

– Agencia Efe

– El Diario.es

– El Confidencial