Reforming Cambodia’s classrooms: Why interior layouts must align with 21st-century pedagogy

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By Top Viphallin

Junior Research Fellow

Future Forum's junior research fellow, Top Viphallin, has published a new commentary on reforming Cambodia’s classrooms. Check out the full article below!

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Cambodia’s education system is undergoing meaningful transformation. With the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) championing student-centered learning (SCL), competency-based education (CBE), and other learner-centered pedagogies, instructional practice is gradually moving away from rote memorization and toward critical thinking, collaboration, and real-world application.

However, while curriculum and pedagogy evolve, the physical learning environment remains stubbornly anchored in the past. A majority of Cambodian classrooms still mirror the industrial-era model: rows of fixed desks facing a teacher’s podium, reinforcing hierarchical, one-way transmission of knowledge. This spatial contradiction not only undermines pedagogical reform but also renders key learning objectives—such as creativity, teamwork, and communication—more difficult to attain.

Structural Inertia: The Legacy of Outdated Classroom Norms

The persistence of rigid classroom layouts in Cambodia is not incidental. It is the result of path dependency—a historical carryover from colonial education models that prioritized control, uniformity, and compliance. These spatial norms have become so normalized that they escape scrutiny, even when they directly contradict the learning goals laid out in MoEYS’s Education Strategic Plan.

In many public schools, a “successful” classroom is still visually defined by order: silent students seated in tidy rows. But this visual logic does not reflect deeper indicators of learning. In fact, it reflects a contradiction: while the curriculum encourages collaborative, interdisciplinary projects, the physical space rewards passivity and individual compliance.

The consequence is cognitive dissonance in the classroom. Teachers trained in SCL may attempt interactive techniques, only to find themselves constrained by furniture immobility, narrow aisles, and a room not designed for movement, noise, or peer interaction. This systemic friction wears down reform from within.

The Classroom As a Third Teacher

Globally, there is a growing body of evidence linking flexible learning environments with improved student outcomes. Classrooms with modular furniture, dynamic layouts, and differentiated seating zones have been shown to increase student engagement, autonomy, and collaboration. For example, research in the OECD highlights how physical space — when designed with pedagogy in mind — can function as a “third teacher,” shaping behavior, fostering inclusivity, and supporting differentiated instruction.

In contrast, Cambodia’s current infrastructure policies and school design guidelines remain primarily focused on buildings, not interiors. The MoEYS’s "School Design Guidelines for the 21st Century" emphasize natural lighting, aesthetics, and ventilation—important factors, no doubt—but omit comprehensive standards for interior layouts. This omission represents a critical policy blind spot.

National standards for flexible classroom interiors

A truly learner-centered classroom must be both instructionally and spatially inclusive. Therefore, classroom layout reform should be explicitly included in national education policy.

MoEYS should issue a national guideline on classroom furniture dimensions, zoning, and layout templates aligned with instructional goals—similar to architectural codes, but pedagogically grounded. These standards should include:

Flexible seating and diverse learning zones 

Each student has a unique learning style, and the classroom should be able to accommodate students' different learning styles to promote student engagement.  Flexible seating allows for multiple configurations of the whole group, small groups, and partners to talk, listen, read, write, play, and learn.

A research study of flexible seating's impact on classroom environment which maps and records data gathered from 65 students in second and fifth grade classrooms demonstrates that flexible seating encourages students to select workspaces based upon their needs and that the selection is not permanent.

The students were monitored based on where they were working throughout the day in the classroom. The students have a variety of seating options ranging from floor seating, ball chairs, standing, couches, stools, and chairs. The teachers will be monitoring the students based on the seating choices that they decide upon.

The implementation of flexible seating innately develops a student’s sense of ownership of their learning as they navigate which classroom workspaces suit their learning needs.

Movable and modular furniture 

To further instil a sense of community within the classroom, desks should be positioned face-to-face so that not one student is alone or apart from any type of learning, a component that is crucial for all student success.

The tables and chairs should be rearranged into clusters or curved lines that allow students to face each other and be visible to the whole class. Teachers will be able to move around and facilitate all students effectively.  

A controlled experiment with primary-age children comparing clusters (tables grouped) vs. single desks revealed that single desks improved logical reasoning, especially for individual cognitive tasks, and affected girls and lonelier children differently.

A concise evidence-based guide suggests that teachers align seating arrangements with instructional goals—rows for focus, clusters for collaboration, semicircles for discussion—and offer practical tips for transitioning furniture layouts.

From row-based to clusters 

The frog classroom program in Malaysia introduced modular furniture, specially designed chairs, and curved tables that encourage peer-led learning and interaction. By 2020, there were 350 frog classrooms throughout Malaysia.

Besides traditional row-based seating, other popular alternatives to differentiate seating arrangements based on learning activities include roundtables, horseshoes or semi-circles, double horseshoes, group pods, and pair pods.

A pilot project

Phare Ponlue Selpak, a Cambodian non-profit art school located in Battambang, is a perfect sample to test out the classroom interior layout rearrangement because of their commitment to providing a nurturing and creative environment where young people can access high-quality education prior to joining public school. The school equips students with practical skills, including literary, computer, and English class. The students experience more self-independency and peer collaboration during these classes since they have to practice while the teachers will work as mentors or facilitators instead. 

The school is already valued by the community, so any changes that might be made in a pilot project should not take away from what already works. In terms of improvement, we might consider the way in which we can create flexible space and a diverse learning zone in order to ensure efficient classroom participation and facilitation between students and teachers.  This would allow the tables and chairs to be moved freely to form group discussion zones.

Additionally, the diverse learning zone should be set up for quiet learners and pair or group learners by using different seating, such as bean bags for relaxing discussion and brainstorming ideas and high stools and tables for analytical thinking or concentration. This inclusiveness will help students access high-quality knowledge equally.

To achieve a flexible learning space, the traditional long wooden tables and chairs would need to be changed to modular items: one table for one student or one table for two students. According to the Architects' Data, the applicable dimension of a table for one student is 45-50 cm in width by 60-90 cm in length, and a table for two is 40-45 cm in width by 110-150 cm in length. In these dimensions, students can easily move their seats when group work is assigned. 

Furthermore, students and teachers will improve their communication and interaction through the new arrangement of a horseshoe or semicircle where tables are arranged in a U-shape, with the open end facing a presentation area or whiteboard. Classmates face each other while the teacher can move around the room. This arrangement would increase teacher-student engagement, visibility, and active learning of students at Phare Ponlue Selpak.

Integrate interior layout into teacher training

Pedagogy cannot be divorced from space. Teacher training programs must incorporate spatial strategies—how to use furniture, zones, and layout shifts to enhance collaboration, attention, and feedback cycles.

Looking ahead for 21st-century learners

Redesigning classrooms is not a peripheral issue—it is central to the success of SCL and broader education reform. Data from Cambodia and across the region confirm that flexible, well-designed spaces enhance student engagement, collaboration, and learning outcomes. As Cambodia advances toward 21st-century education goals, research-backed spatial reform must be prioritized alongside curriculum and pedagogy. A pilot project, grounded in local realities and informed by regional best practices, offers a path forward—bridging vision with evidence and reform with results.

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