The manner in which seats are arranged in the classroom significantly impacts the quality of education. Seating arrangements have an equally profound effect on the effectiveness of communication both between the teacher and students and amongst the students themselves, especially younger students. The majority of resources available to teachers on this topic appear to emphasize the former and neglect the latter. This is indicative of a greater tendency surrounding the body of research in classroom management to concentrate on the concerns of the teacher and disregard the students’ needs and perspective.

I hesitate to even use the word ‘classroom management’ as the term itself implies a teacher-centric perspective when seating arrangement should primarily be for the benefit of the students. This is the more reasonable philosophy of the two choices due to the simple fact that the purpose of lessons is to supply edification and information to the students in the most effective means possible; not to ‘manage’ them as though they were an unruly and defiant lot that needs be subjugated and tamed. They are better regarded as individuals, almost peers, and are most likely to respond to a teacher’s respect for them in kind. Seating arrangements that attempt to manage students are ineffective in my opinion and will only succeed at separating teachers from their students and establishing communication barriers which are especially troublesome when communication is the object of our lesson as teachers; as is the case in teaching a language.

After a week of research it is quite apparent that even amongst more student-centered seating arrangement options there is still a great deal of debate that currently exists regarding which particular seating arrangement is best. There is a lot of wasted energy on the part of the proponents of the various conflicting styles to this effect as what they fail to realize is that they are all correct to an extent. The problem is not in the rationalization for each method. The great majority of them have sound and logical explanations supported by empirical observations. The common failing amongst them is that they are too rigid. They do not consider the possibility of using multiple arrangements within a class during the same lesson, let alone variations from one day to the next.

The various seating arrangement styles at our disposal as teachers each have a particular objective that they are best suited for depending on a number of variables in the classroom. The most affectatious or deterministic of these variables include the number of students, age of students, and lesson topic(s).

The remainder of this paper will focus on defining the seating arrangement techniques that, in the author’s opinion, are most concerned with student beneficience and the specific function of each technique.

One way to de-emphasize the distinction between student and teacher is ensure the seating for the teacher is identical to that of his or her students. This is best achieved in a round table arrangement with two variations. For smaller classes during which their will be written work that necessitates a surface to write on, a single circular table is used such that the teacher is indistinguishable from the students with regards to seating. For larger classes, separate chairs arranged in a circle including the teacher is more logistically sound as a large table in the center of 8 or more people is more of a barrier and hindrance. The circled chairs may or may not have accompanying writing surfaces. I prefer the chairs with a retractable writing surface such that it can be stored at the side of the chair when not being used. This circular style is best suited for conversations and interactive activities involving only voice. It encourages student participation as they are in a position equal to that of the teacher. As such, it is more difficult for them to rely on the teacher for cues or to carry the conversation. If a table is used at all, it should be in the shape of a circle vice a kidney shape as is common in many ESL schools to distinguish between the teacher and students.

An even more engaging arrangement for interaction or role-play activities is to not use seats at all. In this arrangement, role-plays become much more life-like and enable the students to use the language in the context of an actual situation. It is overall a more visceral experience. This arrangement obviously cannot be sustained over the course of an entire lesson but is well suited for the activate portion(s) of any prepared lesson. This style is very modular and lends itself very easily to moving students quickly and fluidly amongst various groups and swapping partners in role-plays. This concept of modularity can also be applied to seated students provided the seats do not have tables to inhibit the students from changing seats. There is more space for the movement of students while exchanging seats in the circular seating fashion described before or when seated in groups or clusters.

However, cluster seating is best suited for written group activities because role-plays are better without seats at all. The fact that we would use clusters for written activities implies the use of a table. Optimally, the tables would again be circular and each table would be shared by three or four students. This arrangement is useful for worksheet activities or games that require a board of some sort. It is important that cluster seating is not used as the primary seating arrangement as stagnate student groupings reduce the exposure of each student to all their classmates and therefore reduce their opportunity to learn more but repeating the same groupings can also increase the potential for discipline problems.

It is inevitable that in some activities the teacher will have to make use of the board or some type of common visual aid such as an overhead projector or television. In these cases, it is best to use a horseshoe or halfmoon seating arrangement out of necessity so that every student can see the visual aid clearly. For larger classes, multiple tiers of the halfmoon can be used. This arrangement still keeps all of the students on an equal footing but the teacher is inherently in a position near the visual aid. However, if the visual is, for example, a white board, the teacher can still exchange seats with students periodically to have the students write on the board themselves.

The preceding seating arrangements in this paper all have specific functions and are suited for different classroom activities. No single one should be considered as a classroom’s primary arrangement, but rather as a toolbox that can all be used from time to time perhaps even within the span of a single lesson. The important thing is to understand that the arrangement of students in the classroom is an underutilized and highly useful tool in making lessons more effective. Seating should not be stagnant and it should not be designed specifically to make things easier for the teacher or to “manage” the students. Our purpose is to educate, not manage.

Clark, Don “Seating Arrangement Styles” March 2001.

Holtrop, S. “Writing Lesson Plans: Seating Arrangements” May 1997.

Ramsden, Alexandra “Seating Arrangements” Dec 1999.

Weaver, Diane ”Seating Arrangements and Assignments” Aug 2006.

*Personal experience as a teacher in an ESL school in Japan

Jon Graham