Like the realities of death and taxes, the realities that kids grow and that they will abuse furniture will never change. These two facts of life and ever shrinking budgets force the question. Should we consider quality or quantity when selecting school chairs? Consider this
How a classroom is furnished speaks volumes about the standards of your school. In fact, a recent study by UNICEFF proves that the physical arrangement of the school chairs and the visual aesthetic of a classroom influence learning in profound ways.
While the best school chairs do not dictate the success of your school, a suitably equipped and visually stimulating classroom has been proven to increase your chances of success. Quality school chairs can act as a great motivator for students.
School chairs are available in a variety of styles, colors and materials. No matter what you select, you should always put quality on the forefront. The primary reasons for this consideration are durability, influence on learning and comfort.
Another reality is that buying school chairs is not easy. Even though you should consider quality as the top priority in your selection process, it is possible to purchase high quality school chairs even on a limited budget.
Durability
If you select school chairs that are durable enough to last for a long time and can bear the weight of a variety of growing students and their belongings, then in the long run you will save money by limiting repairs and replacements.
By all means, make sure you select chairs that are easy to clean with laminate surfaces that are hard to damage.
To ensure that your school chairs are worth the investment, it is important to remember that they will be used on a daily basis and should therefore be durable. This is why quality is important. If your school chairs are not durable, they will need to be replaced frequently.
You want to stay away from woods such as teak and oak because they are high maintenance and can be easily damage. School chairs should be made from durable, lightweight, and low maintenance metal such as aluminum.
Make sure you purchase your school chairs from a reputable and reliable furniture supplier or manufacturer and come with a good warranty.
Influence on Learning
Modern and trendy school chairs are available in a rainbow of bright colors, can be custom made, and are designed to serve the learning environment.
School chairs play a very prominent role in attracting and keeping students attention to studies and classroom activities. Chairs need to be easy to move around and accommodate a variety of growing students.
It is important that you select school chairs that provide students a chance of uninterrupted learning without any inconvenience or hurdle. They need to help students sit comfortably so they can concentrate.
Comfort
For proper attention spans and learning, comfort is the name of the game. Do not confuse comfort with cozy. You want to select school chairs that are comfortable enough to lengthen the students attention span but not so cozy that they fall asleep or daydream.
Uncomfortable school chairs are the main cause of distraction in the classroom. So, the quality needs to be sufficient enough to provide comfort. A good way to determine if the chair is comfortable is to go ahead and sit in it and see how long you can sit comfortably.
It is also important to keep in mind the size of the students and the correct posture. The school chairs you select should be appropriate for the average size of the students sitting in them and provide adequate support to promote the best possible posture.
You expect your students to spend the better part of their day working in these chairs. They should expect them to be comfortable. Imbalanced, wobbly, or unnecessarily high or low chairs can lead to back and neck problems resulting in more clinic visits and missed days due to aches, pains, and headaches. Less dramatically, uncomfortable chairs can simply lead to reduced efficiency and productivity.
If your school chairs are not comfortable, students will not be able to sit for long hours while giving 100% of their attention to the class. A comfortable school chair ensures active participation from your students because if the student is not at ease he or she will have difficulty paying attention and participating in classroom activities.
If you have classes where students are required to sit for an extended period of time, you should consider supplying upholstered school chairs.
Because you require durability, a good learning environment, and the utmost comfort for your students, it is paramount that you make quality a priority over quantity when purchasing school chairs. However, in this day of the ever shrinking budget, you need to consider how to achieve this quality on a limited budget. It is possible.
You can save money by purchasing your school chairs online, direct from the manufacturer or even purchasing quality used school chairs.
With such a wide range of selection available today, it should be simple to select quality school chairs on any budget.
So, get out of the classroom and do your homework. With the right amount of research and price comparison, you can afford quality school chairs.