A reorganization of schools lead by kids | Céline Alvarez | TEDxlsèreRiver

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Having gone to school for linguistics, Céline Alvarez decides to go into the national education system in order to change things up from the inside. She took the school teacher's examination in 2009 and, in 2011, began a pioneering experiment at the heart of National Education. The objective is to propose a new environment for nursery schools, scientifically based and validated, which allows for optimal learning and growth mechanisms for the human being. To do this, she goes back to Dr. Montessori's work, which she enriches and adapts in light of cognitive science and linguistics.

Twenty-five percent --

25 is the percent of children
who graduate elementary school each year

with weak and insufficient knowledge

in reading, math, and writing.

On top of this 25%,

another 15% of children will graduate
from elementary school each year

without having basic knowledge

in reading, writing, and math.

That gives us a total of 40%.

Each year, 40% of children,
so around 300,000 students,

graduate from elementary school
with serious shortcomings.

This report shows that these shortcomings

will inhibit them from pursuing
normal schooling in junior high.

Forty percent!

And yet, we have on hand,

sound information that gives us
the cognitive science

to understand the ways
in which human beings learn.

The first thing
that cognitive science says

is that in order to learn
you have to be attentive.

More than being just attentive, in order
to learn, you have to be actively engaged.

The third thing,
when we are attentive and engaged,

it is that's necessary
to receive immediate feedback

on the action that we are performing.

Because this signal of error will allow
the brain to adjust the hypotheses

emitted onto the action being performed,

and it is the gap between the brain's
prediction and the observation

that will create surprise
and that will create learning.

The last point is consolidation.

When we are attentive, engaged,
and receive immediate feedback,

we then need repetition
in order to consolidate.

And this repetition will allow
knowledge to become automatic,

so it no longer takes as much
conscious effort and resources.

There is one thing that is
no longer debatable today.

We know, everyone says
it, every study says it:

inequalities are determined and come about

between the ages of zero and six.

Therefore, nursery school is vital
in the prevention of academic failure.

And yet in France,
nursery schools do not really utilize

these four learning parameters.

So, if we look simply
at nursery school in the morning,

we see instantly
that in these three hours of class,

there is only 30 minutes, on average,

45 minutes for the last year
of nursery school,

dedicated to direct learning,
guided by the teacher.

The activity is not chosen by the child.

It is imposed by the teacher,
however formative is.

It is imposed by the teacher.

This isn't a decision.

There isn't endogenous or personal
motivation on the child's part.

So, the child will not pay close attention

and, therefore,
will not really be engaged,

and the signal of error
that the child could receive,

will be very weak and insufficient,

because, with 30 children, the teacher
cannot give immediate feedback,

all by themselves,
to all these little minds' hypotheses,

whose brains will be working.

The last thing is consolidation.

A child who is given a task

only has one desire,
especially at three years old,

and that's to get out off it,

to be able to go and play
with trucks, construction toys, and books.

So there will not be repetition;
therefore, no consolidation.

For five years,
I've only thought about one thing:

if school is reorganized from the inside
according to these four principles?

Just that. Nothing except that.

That would already be
a revolution in and of itself.

My deep intuition was this:

if we respect these basic mechanisms

not just the children will flourish
on an academic level,

but what we call non-cognitive competence:

self-confidence, self-esteem, the ability
to help one another, cooperation

would develop and blossom

without having to look for
alternative means of bringing it about.

Well, I wanted to see this.

In 2011, The Ministry
of National Education

gave me the chance to do it.
we were able to open this class.

Please watch what happens
when a nursery school is reorganized

based on learning mechanisms.

(Music)

Bra... zil ...

Brazil!

9898 divided by 3 equals 3299,

with 1 left over.

- Truck.
- A truck.

- A boat.
- A boat.

A helicopter.

A what?

A helicopter.

He-li-cop-ter!

Ffffffffff!

l-i-

Li?

Li!

A ball.

Co-ne.

The story that we will read

to you is called, "All the kisses!"

I am strong, very strong.

I said to mom --

"Séraphine et Julie":

It's the stepmother
that nicknamed her Cinderella.

Quit all this racket!

I would like to sleep!

It's not me, dad, it's him!

How is it him?
How many of you are there?

I've had enough!
Drink this syrup right away!

Did you see? My father is terrible!

(Video ends)

(Applause)

Céline Alvarez: I didn't say it before,
but I will specify now,

this class is in a priority education zone

with an anti-violence plan,
in Gennevilliers.

When we tested these children,

at the beginning of the year
in 2011, in September,

we tested them in multiple areas,

and they were, obviously,
in a lot of areas,

well below the average.

When we tested them one year later,
so in June of the next school year,

they had not only caught up to the norm,
for the vast majority

but they had passed it.

And not by a few months, in fact,
some passed by many years.

100% of the children in their last
year in nursery school passed;

happily, enthusiastically,
joyfully, willingly.

This was also for 90% of the children
in their second year of nursery school,

under the same circumstances.

And what left the largest impression,
that we all noticed,

was when we returned to the class,

seeing the development of the children.

They were beaming, glowing. Beaming!

They flourished.

So, how? What are the main principles?

The first thing is
that the children are autonomous.

They can choose
what they want their work to be.

Therefore, they're motivated.
They want to do what they're doing!

And during that time,
the teacher can be with other children,

the most difficult children,
and respond to their specific needs.

Next, each activity that is given in class

brings together the algorithms
that we cited previously.

The child is attracted
by a subject material

that is appealing,
that catches his attention.

Then, the same activity
for this material is fascinating.

For a three-year old,
buttoning and unbuttoning buttons,

that's fascinating.

Therefore, the children are attentive,
engaged, as you saw, extremely engaged,

and they receive immediate feedback.

The material denounces error.

It's not the teacher who has to do it.

Therefore, if the child doesn't button
the button correctly, he'll see it.

The material shows him.

And then, because the material requires
exact and controlled conditions,

this fixes the varying difficulties
for the child that repeats the activity,

who is trying to perfect him or herself.

And so they develop
an even deeper attention

that will spread to other learning areas.

And thus, it is a virtuous circle.

And, above all, the direct consequence

of this optimal stimulation
of the brain's mechanisms

is that the children are calm,
appeased, they are happy.

I really didn't expect them
to be so happy to work.

Another important principle
on which we founded this class,

is that, and research says this too,
children learn by touching.

We cannot incorporate things
that we have not touched before.

Incorporated sensorially in order
to incorporate them intellectually.

Therefore, all the given material
is sensory-based.

And we know, research
also says it, obviously,

social interaction holds
a dominant place in learning.

It is through social interaction
that we learn, because we interact.

We mixed the three age levels in
the class, ranging from 3 years old to 6.

And what begins to take place
is no longer vertical teaching,

or the teacher giving lessons
to the children.

It's a form of horizontal teaching.

The knowledge is shared
between the children,

from the oldest to the youngest,
but not by force.

A child that has a question
will ask, even to one smaller.

It happens.

And so the direct consequence of this

is that there isn't competition
nor are there comparisons in class.

That also shocked me.

There is constant emulation

where the differences of each child
work into the classroom and enriches it.

Therefore, you see there,

a small girl that is teaching
a child some words

in order to teach him French.

Théophile doesn't speak French.

And do you see the kindness on her face?

What I would like to say to you
is that, after two years, in this class,

after all I had observed there,
after all that we observed there,

I am not the only one to have seen it;

to me, it no longer seems possible
to debate the reorganization of school

without first laying
the foundations of the debate.

Namely: to reconstruct the base

of an unadapted environment?

Or, even, if we wanted to reconstruct

based on a system, an environment,

that creates conditions where flourishing
is possible for the child,

and the adult can respond
to the specific needs of each child,

in an individual way.

In the first case,

school is the cause of many problems
that it tries to fix through reform.

In the second case,

we are talking about a school
based on the laws of human development,

where the child finds an environment

that allows him to be filled
with enthusiasm, with joy,

and where a shining path opens up to him.

I think that on this second path,

we have to open the debate
and think up a school for our children.

Thank you.

(Applause)