Célestin Freinet

Célestin Freinet (1896-1966), the inventor of “active pedagogy” and the “new school”, is the pedagogue and theorist who has best combined different pedagogical currents and synthesized them into an approach that is more open, less normative or systematic than others. He always draws on his own concrete experiences of learning autonomy with his class. He was a “practitioner-theoretician”, who always thought in terms of practice and was very committed to sharing skills, at the international level.

He considered that school is the privileged place for the transformation of the world and personal emancipation, that school is a full part of society. He built it through an openness to free expression, to experimentation with no stake in success, to individualized rhythms, to autonomy, to peer transmission, to principles of cooperation, to benevolence, to questioning the teacher’s system of domination over pupils, to the appropriation of technical tools (printing, radio, cinema, etc.) to produce content that goes beyond the school.

There is in the tool, in its use, in the work it supports, the essential element of learning on which the value of education will depend.

The Freinet pedagogy had an unprecedented influence on all continents from the 1940s onwards, in the educational field as well as in the fields of psychology, politics, popular education and organizational management. The “Freinet method” is quite precisely related to the pragmatist philosophy (John Dewey). Paradoxically, it has had far more influence around the world than in France, a country that still legitimizes, at the state level, an authoritarian educational culture.

The Freinet spirit and method are, in my opinion, extremely effective in resolving the challenges of the contemporary world, which is full of digital tools and uses that need to be creatively appropriated in order to be the bearers of freedom, human development and democracy.

Poem in automatic writing about « Célestin Freinet »

These concepts almost seem to be common sense, but with digital tools it requires a real methodological work to be able to use them fully. The principle of this conference is to put into practice, in its form of interaction, the pedagogical principles that it illustrates. It was filmed on July 7, 2023, by videoconference. Benoît Labourdette It is a work of every moment, of trust.

“creation - Interview#1 with Benoît Labourdette” by Carole Contant

Videoconference interview (1h13’, 2023).

Benoît Labourdette explains in a practical and conceptual way his methods for creation and the pedagogical framework, based on a commentary on an example given by Carole Contant. Links with François Roustang’s approachThis interview is the (...)

12 May 2023

1 min

“Creative digital practices and critical thinking training”: conference by Benoît Labourdette

Atelier Canopé 86 - Poitiers. Study and training day “EAC at the service of the development of critical thinking”.

Participative conference to illustrate how the training of critical thinking can effectively pass by the means of artistic creation. To inaugurate the study and training day “EAC in the service of the development of critical thinking”, for (...)

11 May 2022

3 min

Professional meeting “Public participation”: presentation by Benoît Labourdette

Interview of Benoît Labourdette by Jean-Yves de Lépinay (11’37s, 2020).

Sharing examples of audiovisual creation workshops conducted in the spirit of cultural rights: moving from “participation” to “interaction.”This trust we choose to put in others is a risk we take, it changes us. We take the risk of being (...)

8 December 2020

1 min

Robert

31 December 2021

The Freinet method applied to digital mediation

Pedagogy and politics of autonomy.

The pedagogical method known as “Freinet” (conceptualized by the pedagogue Célestin Freinet from the 1920s to the 1960s, as a synthesis of pre-existing new pedagogies) is centered on doing, with tools, a purpose and autonomy for the students. (...)

7 February 2023

2 min

Skilled children

Eight fifth-grade children in a small bucolic school, to whom I gave the cameras, tape recorders, responsibility and autonomy to create films. Today, we are collectively editing their film. I am at the machine, we see the work being done on the (...)

17 May 2023

2 min

John Dewey : an inspirer of cultural rights?

Sharing my interest in an inspiring personality.

The notion of “cultural rights” is increasingly present in the debates within the cultural sector. They are seen by many as being at the heart of the issues and processes of change in the field of culture. But they are controversial, their very (...)

20 April 2021

2 min

Pedagogy

Here you will find educational tools, practical and conceptual. These tools are based on the experiences and thinking that I have been developing in a large number of contexts since the 1990s. I have developed a singular, operative pedagogical (...)

Célestin Freinet

Poem in automatic writing about « Célestin Freinet »

“creation - Interview#1 with Benoît Labourdette” by Carole Contant

“Creative digital practices and critical thinking training”: conference by Benoît Labourdette

Professional meeting “Public participation”: presentation by Benoît Labourdette

Robert

The Freinet method applied to digital mediation

Skilled children

John Dewey : an inspirer of cultural rights?

Pedagogy

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