Task Furniture in Education - Arbeitsplatz Schule der Zukunft 

http://www.tferesearch.com/

Ein EU - finanziertes Projekt 
(European Community for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities)    

Project full title: Task Furniture in Education - The research, design and development of innovative school furniture for classroom tasks, accommodating the latest technology and responding to new teaching methods.

Abstract

Most task furniture in schools today is inadequate to meet the postural needs of students. With 88 million in full-time education in Europe alone and in the context of the proliferation of IT in the classroom and advances in teaching methods, posture, health and well-being of students is imperative. Growing awareness has led to growing demand for improved furniture design. Recent studies show that children typically spend 15,000 hours sitting during their education in furniture not fit for purpose. Approximately 13 per cent of children aged 10-16 suffer recurrent back pain. Today, almost all teachers and students have access to IT in the classroom and there has been a shift from specialist computer rooms to students working with laptops at their desks. This is a positive pedagogical development; however the implications for posture, health and wellbeing appear to be in decline. There is now a large body of evidence to suggest that the ‘open thigh torso’ sitting posture active-dynamic sitting leads to a healthy work setting in school. The Task Furniture in Education project will examine these and all the impacting issues in detail with a view to applying and adapting the best ergonomic theory in innovative and creative design outputs. This 4 year project will combine the expertise of 3 industry partners and 3 academic partners, representing 3 countries in Europe in a work programme has been structured to exploit the synergies of the partners. The task will be to design, develop and test practical, economic, sustainable solutions through to production ready prototype stage and to disseminate new knowledge in the subject.

PROJECT OVERVIEW
Task Furniture in Education ‘TFE’ is a collaborative industry and academia research project that has been deviser to investigate, analyse, design, develop and test innovative school furniture suited to the needs of pupils and teachers, accommodating new and emerging IT equipment and responding to the most up to date teaching methods. The project will run for four years and be led by researchers in NCAD in collaboration with academic and industry partners in Ireland, Germany, Portugal and the USA.

The scientific objectives are as follows:
1. Review: Produce a comprehensive review of the most up-to-date theories, practices and design applications in the field of contemporary task seating and generate a review and impact analysis of European and International Standards with particular focus on the European Standard, EN1729.
2. Analysis: Analyse the activities, including the use of computer technology, and the range of physical performance to be catered for in the design of task seating for children and young adults in education and review the pedagogical practices of the modern education scenario.
3. Design development: To develop, test and evaluate new concepts for furniture and applications of new sustainable materials in an iterative process of idea generation meeting the established research criteria, utilising the knowledge base of the many expert ergonomists and designers working in the field, and producing working prototypes suitable for economic manufacture.
4. Knowledge transfer: Ensure that the resulting scientific knowledge, in particular in the area of ergonomics and IT, is transferred into economically viable, health-positive and attractive furniture products for use in education and disseminate relevant new scientific and technical knowledge to national and professional bodies, international associations and the furniture design and ergonomics community.
5. Dissemination: Generate a final internal scientific report highlighting the discoveries and developments in the area of task furniture in education. This report will also note knowledge gaps to be filled and will outline the subsequentcommercialisation route to be followed by the consortium.

The project emerges from existing and previous research undertaken by the partners indicating that while there is a wide range of student task furniture available, most of it is inadequate to meet the postural needs of pupils and particularly in the context the accelerating introduction of advanced classroom IT. In this regard there has been a steady shift from specialist computer rooms to networked laptops and interactive whiteboards in every classroom allowing pupils to work at their desks. This will soon be complemented by tablet interface devices, flexible screens, e-paper and digital paper. The result will be enormous new opportunities for learning, yet the implications for posture, health and wellbeing are likely to worsen.

The problem is global and there is a growing demand for improved furniture design particularly in the developed world, responding to the ever-increasing body of knowledge and growing awareness of healthy learning postures. While manufacturers play their part in establishing improved designs, by working with the ergonomic data available and meeting the standards for safety and construction, the primary driver for producers is still to sell their products. Manufacturers also respond to the market and if the demand for well-designed furniture is not forthcoming then they will be slow to innovate. At the moment it is clear that the demand for high quality task furniture in education is limited. This lack of demand is the result of a significant shortfall in knowledge and awareness on the part of all concerned with the provision of education infrastructure. Arguably, one of the difficulties in arriving at an agreed position is the absence of well-researched design case studies and the lack of widespread tested and comprehensively evaluated design solutions. Many studies of schoolchildren and posture highlight the physical and ergonomic problems, yet there has been very little research or experimentation with new furniture design solutions beyond the ideas to develop and modify the conventional chair and desk. Until now the emphasis in design has been on furniture that ‘fits’ or simply meets the recent European standard EN1729 yet, it is accepted that there is a lot more to the comfort and wellbeing of pupils in school than simply responding to anthropometric data. There is now a large body of evidence to suggest that the ‘open thigh torso’ sitting posture provides many advantages for pupils engaged in task-based activities on a desk surface and experts also agree that active-dynamic sitting leads to a healthy work setting in school.

The project work programme has been structured to exploit the synergies of the partners through an examination of all the issues associated with the learning environment and the use of this research in a further series of creative design development work tasks. These tasks will be structured to allow for an iterative process of prototype development, testing and evaluation in real school settings. The project aims to add to the body of knowledge in the subject and to disseminate and apply this knowledge innovatively in practical, economic, sustainable and creative furniture design solutions. The overall aim is to add to improve the long-term health and well-being of school pupils.