Short bio

I was a primary school teacher, and adult trainer for about twenty years. Training social workers, volunteers, youth workers, teachers, and people in exclusion was my daily life. Then I was the director of an international sector for a popular education association in France. I participated in the creation of the Lifelong Learning Platform. I was a member of the boards of EAEA, Volonteurope, and Solidar at European level. I'm currently an EPALE ambassador for France.

My Story

A few years ago, when in contact with a school for adults in Finland, one of the teachers (Kari) asked me to lead a seminar for a group of about twenty young adults who had dropped out of the school system and had come to rediscover their taste for learning. It was a kind of "second chance school". I was excited to spend a week with a group of learners. The theme was "active education methods, history and concrete practices". We decided on this jointly with Kari, because it was in line with the school’s curricula.

The only problem was the language. I had to work in English, which is not my own language. And the young Finns had very little practice and only a slight knowledge of English. Deciding to take up the challenge, I proposed that we would organize ourselves on a self-help basis. And above all, I limited the top-down theoretical interventions. The week was spent between theatre and improvisation proposals, writing a collective newspaper with texts and drawings. Each person could speak in English or Finnish, as long as they were translated as soon as a misunderstanding appeared. It seemed to be a long process, but it was necessary and we quickly got to know each other and also the limits of one another.

It was probably the most rewarding week of my career as a trainer.

It was difficult because I was the only trainer, but Kari would check in with me every night. I had several reflections on the feedback given by the learners. In France, I recognize reactions, I know if the learners are tired, if they understand or not, if they are listening well. In Finland, I didn't have a frame of reference. We laughed when my friend said: Are the students present? Are they on time for the start of day? Do they ask questions from time to time? I answered in the affirmative. Then Kari told me that the learners were happy.

But then I wondered about the success of this moment. It worked because we had time. And we had both formal and informal time.

The meals, the sauna, the walks around the school, the weekly outing of the students to the bar which I was also invited to, so many moments where trust appeared, where speech was freed.

It worked because the formal time was spent between improvisations, creating the newspaper, mixing artistic creativity and inventiveness in writing and computer technology for the layout. I limited the theoretical time to one sequence per day, it was short and with paper support so the learners could follow, allowing time for translation if necessary. It also worked because the school accepted important costs, in salaries, travel, in the premises being made available day and night, and in the commitment of other teachers. It also worked because I accepted being housed in the school with the students. So I was like one of them, we were a learning community. And finally, it worked because the only sanction for the week was whether or not each student was participating. And, when searching my documents, as I’ve moved three times since then, I've not found the precious journals written collectively, nor any photos.

I still have the unfailing friendship of Kari, the teacher at this school. He later became a minister in Finland. And from time to time, on social networks, the appearance of such or such student. Jarkko became an international soccer referee, others became social workers or musicians.

I am left with the taste and certainty that we have to change the learning models. They need to be more inclusive, more collaborative, and more responsive to both learners and instructors.