How Flexible Seating Encourages Effective Communication Between Students

As many schools and districts plan for a return to in-person class this fall, it’s a good time to think about a classroom dynamic that we often overlooked: seating. Specifically, flexible seating. Flexible seating is a classroom arrangement that allows students to choose where they sit in the room, whom to sit next to, and what type of seat they would like to sit in. This type of seating works especially well with elementary students, but it can be used all the way up through high school. Flexible seating gives students choices of seats like stools or exercise balls instead of traditional desks, although traditional desks are typically available. Students can also choose to stand up or sit down on the floor. Teachers may even create more creative options like bunk beds, couches, crates, or canoes where students can work. (If only I could have taken math class in a traditional birch bark canoe!) All of this is done with an eye toward meeting student needs and stimulating and facilitating effective classroom communication.

The practice of flexible seating is beneficial for students who need to be able to move a little more in their seats. It also encourages them to find a seat that works for them depending on the task. While helping students who need some movement is a huge benefit of flexible seating, it also encourages effective communication in the classroom and critical thinking skills. If you’ve ever wondered if flexible seating is right for your class, then keep reading to discover how flexible seating encourages effective communication between students.

Flexible Seating Promotes Community 

The biggest benefit of flexible seating is that it builds a community within the classroom. As we return to brick-and-mortar classes, the CDC advises that elementary students maintain a distance of three feet while in the classroom. While this is not ideal, it is closer to normal than we have experienced in quite some time, and we should explore flexible seating arrangements that allow students to share materials and ideas (though not much else.) As they share the learning space and take turns sitting in various locations, students can chat with one another when appropriate and thus improve conversation techniques. Allowing students the time to chat with one another builds trust. Frequent interaction supports conversations about life outside of school. Communication improves and becomes more effective for teachers, as well. Overall classroom communication increases and improves as a result.

Students are more apt to share their struggles and concerns when seated flexibly, which often demonstrates others’ willingness to listen and help. This type of communication fosters empathy and practices speaking with their peers. It also helps students work through conflict. How do students react when they want the same seat? How should they handle differences in opinion on an assignment? These are important communication skills for the future.

Flexible seating also builds community by giving teachers opportunities to talk to their students in small groups more frequently since students are grouped by seating style, which helps students develop relationships and communication skills with adults.

Flexible seating was obviously a lot more difficult to implement during the pandemic. That may finally begin to change by this fall. Even if masks and plexiglass barriers remain in our future for a while, chances are we will begin to see more flexibility in how schools implement safety protocols. Collaborative seating arrangements can–and must–return to our classrooms. A return to purposeful, effective classroom communication and a renewed sense of classroom community awaits. Be ready for that moment.

Flexible Seating Promotes Collaboration 

Because it organically increases classroom communication, flexible seating also provides ample opportunity for collaboration. No matter what kind of project or assignment students are given, they can choose to be comfortable in their work environment. Flexible seating fosters collaboration by helping students not feel isolated in a row confined to the traditional desk.

In those desks, students can be intimidated to ask questions of the teacher or their peers. By having students choose their seats in small flexible seating groups, they are automatically in contact with other students. Whether introverted, extroverted, or in between, students can work together to solve a problem or assignment. Small group settings also automatically put students in close proximity with others who can help. If a student is unsure of an answer, he or she can ask their classmates before raising their hand to ask the teacher. It also prevents a student from sitting silently at their desk and never asking a question or participating in a discussion because they are too afraid to ask or approach the teacher. Working on these interpersonal skills and building confidence through communication is another asset to flexible seating.

We are emerging from a year in which interpersonal communication was often more difficult due to a lack of true face-to-face interaction (unless you count every time you reminded someone that they were muted). Patterns of classroom interaction often went from the gold standard of direct student-to-student communication to teacher-student-teacher interactions, which is a step in the wrong direction. The use of breakout rooms or discussion boards in your learning management system may have helped (the flexible seating of the 21st century!), but a commitment to flexible seating in the physical classroom as you return to normalcy will help establish effective classroom communication even more.

Flexible Seating Reflects Student Choice 

Choice is something most students desire, and flexible seating gives students more choice, which is a big factor in the popularity of this approach. Outside of choice of seating arrangements, it helps students discover how they best learn. It allows students to figure out what they like and how they function best and then choose the best option for their own success. Choice also requires a certain level of communication as it requires critical thinking and an expressed preference on the part of the student.

Imagine if a student could learn that they get the most out of reading by sitting in a bean bag chair instead of lying on their belly. Sometimes a student might need to stand and walk around to memorize vocabulary terms or find a cozy, quiet corner. It is so empowering for students to figure out situations that make them successful, but on top of that, students can then become advocates for themselves. They can communicate effectively with each other and adults about their learning styles. Students need to learn to communicate their ideas, desires, and needs to others, as this is a critical skill for adulthood.

Flexible seating is a wonderful alternative to traditional desk-and-table seating. It boosts learning and can be quite fun for students. Most importantly, it is a fantastic tool for helping students figure out how they best learn, but it also improves their communication skills because they are more closely interacting with others on a regular basis. You have a golden opportunity, as school shifts back to hybrid or fully in-person modes of instruction, to bring your students back to an environment in which the furniture, edtech, and instructional methods all combine to create the best environment possible for effective classroom communication.

Of course, flexible seating arrangements aren’t the only way to promote communication in (or out of) the classroom. Your learning management system is a crucial hub for communicating class activities, content, and progress among students, teachers, and families. When asked to share how his schools promote communication, Bob Schuetz, Technology Department Chair at Palatine High School in Illinois, says, “[PowerSchool] Schoology Learning is a communication conduit for everybody at Palatine High School. That’s landing place number one. … You go to a theme park, and if you get separated from the kids, you designate a place where everyone meets up. For us, Schoology [Learning] is like the Ferris Wheel—that’s where everyone meets up. That’s where everyone gets their stuff.”