Publish at June 08 2020 Updated December 08 2022
Schools isolate young people behind walls and often turn in on themselves, around programs, learning situations and evaluation where children sometimes have trouble finding meaning. This is the observation made by Guillaume Sabin in La joie du dehors.
How can we build a pedagogy that is open to the outside world, where students would go to meet the actors of the cultural or social economic life? Guillaume Sabin gives us some pointers. The book published in August 2019 is carried by a lively, enthusiastic and militant writing, all in contrast when it comes to comparing the pedagogical projects of the classical school and the open school.
Throughout the book, Guillaume Sabin opposes two visions. A school enclosed and protected by walls and a school on the move, turned outward, without partitions or clocks, open to the unexpected, to society and to others. Taking up the criticisms against the "barracks" school, he notes that the school aims to protect from society and parents, and to isolate the child in activities, evaluations and contents distant from his life. The criticism is strong, unstoppable, and affects everyone. Thus, the innovative schools that promote outdoor stays also often carry the project of distancing themselves from the social environment.
The open school is indeed not the outdoor school. It is a school that reaches out to the world around it, to social, economic and cultural actors, a school that moves around and leaves a great deal of initiative to the children. Guillaume Sabin presents devices where small groups go to meet people and go to spaces that are sometimes familiar and sometimes foreign to them. The book insists on the discovery of places and on the physical accompaniment. It is a matter of interest, of astonishment, but also of allowing oneself to be astonished by the students and their loved ones.
Social pedagogy claims to be the work of Célestin Freinet (1896-1966). This teacher, who taught in the Alpes-Maritimes, always insisted on putting students into activity, on their autonomy and on the assignment of roles. His conception of the school is that of an open space. The groups go to meet the inhabitants and sometimes the less "scholastic" among them. They produce work to be disseminated outside. The newspaper, the use of the press are elements that remain attached to the image of this teacher and author.
Guillaume Sabin also quotes Janucz Korczak. Born in 1878 and died in 1942 after asking to be deported with the children of his orphanage. Social pedagogy retains from this author the autonomy of the children, the concern to open them to their environment and to bring them to discover a great variety of objects of study. Like the other pioneers that "The Joy of the Outside" highlights, he bases his action on respect, taking people into account, the bond of trust and affection with the children.
Another teacher, Paulo Freire, traced the path of what has
became social pedagogy. He introduced the idea of humility and modesty on the part of the teacher, who must first seek to understand who his learners are, how they live, and what they are sensitive to. Starting from the experience and the ground of the learners is essential. Committed to the fight against illiteracy, Paulo
Freire was able to achieve ambitious results by offering training that was meaningful and by first building a relationship of proximity and reciprocity.
Among the precursors, one is also tempted to mention Rousseau, the author of l'Emile. He emphasizes the outdoors, outings and excursions. Like the proponents of social pedagogy, he prefers direct contact with nature to "second-hand knowledge," to borrow a phrase from Guillaume Sabin. But for the philosopher of the Enlightenment, the teacher organizes everything, he knows the answers to the questions He knows the answers to the questions he asks and does not let himself be surprised or affected. He constantly brings the learner to his territory and to what he has mastered.
It is on this point that social pedagogy diverges. We cannot help someone learn and become autonomous in their learning if we constantly lock them into the role of one who needs to be supported, guided and accompanied. Guillaume Sabin's book shows that solid training begins with self-esteem that is not too damaged.
Another difference : "off-the-wall" pedagogy starts from what encounters and lived situations bring. It proposes to multiply the views and objects of study. Rousseau on the other hand censors, sorts and keeps only a few books, for example.
In GPAS [Groupe de Pédagogie et d'Animation Sociale], pedagogues sometimes visit spaces that are familiar to children and adolescents. They accept to be guided and to be surprised, while the students are familiar with the spaces. The pedagogical pattern can be reversed and sometimes it is a student who proposes the next activity or meeting. Sometimes, however, the students will instead discover a social space that they did not know existed. Here again, the teacher does not position himself as an expert who is always right. A successful training moment is one in which the teacher has also learned something...
And the examples cited make one want to. The young people of Brittany will thus have had the opportunity to meet a lock keeper, to visit a stop motion workshop, to learn about martial arts, to build a cart or to see projects being decided at ATD Fourth World, an association that advocates the emancipation and participation of the most disadvantaged.
In a school that is closed and isolated from the outside world, it is easy to bring students onto the teacher's turf and maintain a reassuring asymmetry. GPAS do not hesitate to shake up these habits, smoothing out relationships and creating reciprocity.
There is no doubt that outings with GPAS are powerful moments for students, which can help restore confidence in themselves and in the adult. Relational and communication skills are certainly greatly stretched and developed on these outings.
The reading of this book is stimulating and convinces of the contribution of this pedagogy in the construction of oneself. Nevertheless, one wonders about the nature of the complementarities between the school course and the specific moments accompanied by the GPAS. The book takes a rather sharp and negative view of the school system with which it must coexist. How are the relations with the "pedagogues from within"? Do they manage to build complementarity?
Illustrations : Frédéric Duriez
Resources
Guillaume Sabin and the GPAS - La joie du dehors - Libertalia collection Revue n'autre école - August 2019
https://editionslibertalia.com/catalogue/nautre-ecole/12-la-joie-du-dehors
https://www.decitre.fr/livres/la-joie-du-dehors-9782377290970.html
Hugues Lenoir "Social Pedagogy in Action" - The Libertarian World, August 2019 the Libertarian World, available for consultation on the Libertalia website
https://editionslibertalia.com/blog/la-joie-du-dehors-ml-1910
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