Some schools are moving away from tables and there are some that never got rid of desks in the upper junior (5 and 6) years. It's really about organisation and as others have said tables are better for group work (collaborative approach) and desks lend themselves to the formal individual learning that many of us are familiar with.

In the past 15 years behaviour has changed gradually and now it adds up to a dramatically different atmosphere in the average classroom. Set that against how it was 30, 40 or 50 years ago and you would wonder how anyone learns anything at times.

There's no one reason but dozens of factors as to why one way works better with some classes than others, it tends to be about the collective attitude and group dynamics within a class and not one or two individuals.

How pupils are seated has changed to fit different ideas about the best way to teach and learn. A few years ago I had a class that were shall we say challenging and I decided to move all the tables so that they sat in rows facing the front - it didn't go down well with a couple of members of staff who thought it old fashioned and too formal (parents loved it though) but once it had calmed the class, forced them to focus and started showing improvements in their behaviour and the resulting improvement in their work - a couple of others rearranged their classrooms.
I'm not saying I'd always do it that way but it worth considering in certain cases. 

Jan

Last Edited By: Cdteach Aug 16 11 8:10 AM. Edited 1 times.