Educational Chairs

A child/student will sit on a chair for up to six hours a day over a period of 11 years or more. School furniture must therefore be durable, easy to clean and repair. Cost is always a driver and in educational environments this is particularly acute as school furniture is often the last purchase in a long building or refurbishment process.

All too often it is seen as low status and/or purchased as an afterthought, with the consequence that the benefits of a new school are diminished by inappropriate furniture. Based on purchase cost criteria alone, furniture can be, unattractive, unergonomic and of poor design.

The result is students feeling a lack of ownership over the furniture, encouraging graffiti and vandalism, and shortening the life span. The majority of school chairs will need to last at least 10 years, therefore the cost per child for a cheap school chair can be as low as 60p per year.

Although good school furniture may carry a small cost premium, can we afford to ignore the fact that 'today's children are part of a design conscious society and this awareness extends to the furniture they use'.

REMEMBER - Good furniture indicates that the purchaser respects the children; in return they are more likely to adopt a more positive attitude which is conductive to learning….