Foundation for school
France
Chairman
Mr. Lionel Devic
E-mail: lionel.devic@fondationpourlecole.org
GENERAL manager
Mr. Jean-Baptiste Dupuis
E-mail: jean-baptiste.dupuis@fondationpourlecole.org
The Work
Mission and vision
We believe that school choice is one of the most important parental rights. It is indeed fundamental to every democratic society. It is the reason why we are trying to raise awareness among the decision makers of the importance of giving this choice to all French children, not just those who can afford private education. We believe that State Intervention is necessary in order to set up a fair system of tax credits or, if need be, vouchers, to give all children in France access to such education. Each school should have the freedom to recruit staff (which is currently not the case in France), set its own curriculum and develop its own educative project.
Focus areas
The Foundation provides support mainly to schools which operate as non-profit organisations and maintain the lowest possible school fees. The Foundation assists both established and new schools. The Schools may elect the curriculum of their choice (e.g. traditional French, Montessori), providing this conforms to the principles laid down by the Foundation.
Our support covers cash allocations (only for non-profit organisations) but also training, consulting for teachers, directors, and help to new schools creation
The Foundation has developed several other programs: a Quality Management Programme to assist schools to implement their own quality standard and a Literacy Contest, open to all pupils (at age 9 and 12) to encourage literary excellence.
More information: https://www.fondationpourlecole.org/about-us/
Description of the organization:
Since we are a foundation, not a federation or an association, we haven’t any members. We work for an informal network of independent schools, making the advocacy of everyone.
In France these are today more than 1500 independent schools. It represents about 100,000 pupils.
Which kind of schools? – The schools are very different:
– Religious schools (catholic, Jewish, protestant, etc.)
– Schools for special needs (dyslexic pupils, with a handicap, etc.)
– Schools with homogeneous classes (on-gifted, etc.)
– Schools with a specific pedagogical project (Montessori, Waldorf, etc.)
– Bilingual schools (foreign languages or regional languages)
– Classical schools with high level of humanitarian studies (Catholics or non-denominational schools)
We are a foundation, not a federation, we have not any members. We work for an informal network of independent schools.
A lot of independent schools include all the levels, from the age of 6 to 18 years.
If we talk about levels, it exists about:
– 155 Nursery schools (3 to 6 years)
– 784 Primary schools (6 to 11 years)
– 376 Secondary schools (12 to 15 years)
– 204 High schools (15 to 18 years)
How many pupils are attending these schools? – In France, about 75,000 pupils attend independent schools. Details are available on www.ecoles-libres.fr
Organizational policy
Which questions and tasks concerning the organization do you emphasize for the coming years?
To this end our strategy is primarily to assist local communities (teachers, parents, towns, businesses) in the setting up of new privately funded schools in addition to the existing public or state funded schools.
Current challenges
We work actually on public policies in order to introduce measures which allow the effectiveness of access to education.
We constantly lobby for universal school choice, so that all citizens may enjoy equal rights where education is concerned. All parents, regardless of income, should be able to send their child to the school of their choice. We view this choice as a fundamental human right which should be recognized and implemented by the State.
Information
We are interested in school choice; in foreign systems with provide freedom in education with political measures like tax credits, or school vouchers.
We are also interested in the effectiveness of decentralization in foreign countries too.
Contacts
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Website
www.fondationpourlecole.org -
E-mail
contact@fondationpourlecole.org -
Telephone
+33 (0)1 42 62 76 94 -
Address
25 rue Sainte-Isaure 78018 Paris FRANCE