Flexible classrooms – the new future

Desks in lines and rows no longer, couches and bean bags are now being incorporated in some schools across Victoria. Classrooms of up to 70 students with a team of teachers covering several grades are known as the “flexible classroom”, of which a growing number of principals have embraced.

Marcia Lane, Principal at Auburn Primary School said combining year levels in a less formal setting had academic and social benefits.  Research has shown the abilities of children in a single grade had up to a “three-year range.”  Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, Education Department research manager said most schools had developed their own version of “flexible classrooms”.  “It’s really about recognising that kids learn in different ways”.