Societal and theoretical background

In the classical school system, the traditional way is to keep children inside the walls of the school most of the time, and inside the walls of the classroom. In a class group, made of children of their own age, they interact with one single adult or a few as daily teachers. This separation, though practical in an organizational perspective (in line with the industrial mentality in Western society), is nowadays found very limiting for the development of children, by neuroscience, new pedagogy, and through the experience of alternative schools and associations around the world.

Our society today sees many aspects of its functioning being called into question, as they have shown their limits. Classical teaching has been criticized for a long time now. The need to change the education system, for the well-being of children and for quality learning, has led to more and more initiatives to create “alternative schools” and “outside schools”. Inspired by great thinkers (Montessori, Rudolph Steiner, Daniel Greenberg, ...), this movement is spreading today and sows around its models allowing to better support the development of children, and thus that of our society.

The school l'Arbre des Possibles follows the tracks of similar initiatives that came beforehand (La Ferme des Enfants and l'École Écolline in France, the Wolf schools, the Sudbury Valley school,…), drawing on famous theorists of pedagogy and cognitive science, as well as our own experiences with young people. This school is unique, created progressively by the team, the children and the parents. It is grounded in its environment, based on the respect of the needs of each, and a horizontal relationship between adult and child where the child is the main actor of his learning process.