No cliques in Austrian high schools?

Any American Teaching Assistant will be able to name scores of differences between Austrian and American secondary schools, but one of the most pronounced lies in how students and teachers change subjects between periods.

While in the US, teachers stay in their own rooms (usually) and welcome a new class each period, in Austria, students stay while teachers swap around. The system divides pupils into different grades, and these grades into different groups (if there are too many for one class).

This, my students said, coupled with the fact that there are few school-organized extracurricular activities, means that they usually make friends with the folks in their class/grade. Instead of the band geeks, or the jocks, or the cheerleaders hanging together, the students in this particular class said they form bonds with their classmates and those who are usually the same age.

Could this be part of the reason there are no real cliques to speak of at the school? 

Right of the bat, I must mention that this school is relatively small, that there are larger schools across Austria, and that this may be an exception. Tamsweg is small, as well--everyone knows most everyone here.

Based on my limited observations thus far, students staying in their own classroom means they seem to respect and to take care of the equipment, including the whiteboard,  better than students would in the US (where such things would be guaranteed to be used by other students throughout the day).

They also seem to have a group mentality for their studies--almost a "we're all in this together" attitude when it comes to how they perform. Although there are some courses the students can choose to take (an extra English course, or Athletics, for example), they generally don't part ways from each other after each class. From my own experience in high school, I remember feeling camaraderie with my classmates, but I was also on my own--my schedule, my different friends, my choices.

While I don't think that this setup alone--the teachers swapping rather than the students--prevents cliques from forming, and I also believe it limits students in their options to choose courses, it seems to on the other hand allow them to work closely together with those in their same grade, to feel a sense of belonging and responsibility, and to form open, rather than exclusive, friendship groups.