The High School centre Lycée Jean Lurçat, is a public college from Paris holding a wide and diverse formative offer. Compulsory secondary school and high education are carried out, but there are also four other alternatives being offered : La Ville Pour Ecole (LVPE), Lycée Integral, Lycée Pour la Solidarité Internationale and Lycée du Temps Choisi.
They are all for students from 16 years old except Lycée du Temps Choisi, which is for 14 years old youngsters. The centre has two buildings, in one of them, traditional compulsory education is given and in the other one we can find those four innovative modules.
These fours modules are aimed to give an alternative to those youngsters who didn’t find their place in the traditional education system. The Mirroring action was done with La Ville Pour Ecole module, as it is similar to the IDAP Ciutat com Escola program (City-As-School).
La Ville Pour Ecole is opened to youngsters aged from 16 to 20 years old. They welcome between 30 and 35 new students every year. The students are chosen according to an interview with the tutors, where students have to state their personal project and aims. Most of these youngsters haven’t finished their studies or are looking for their way in the future, keeping on studying or working.
The enrolment to LVPE is completely voluntary, students commit to the program freely. During their stay in the centre, they have the option to move to another module if they wish.
(Lycée Integral, focused on keeping studying or Lycée pour la Solidaritée, base on solidarity and humanitarian initiatives).
The students stay at the school for a year and afterwards they have to decide weather if they want to work or to carry on their studies.
Students attend lessons Mondays and Tuesdays. Their timetable is from 9 am to 5.15 pm, with three breaks. From Wednesday to Friday, students go to enterprises to get work experience.
Lessons at school consist of Maths, English, French and several subjects and workshops such as theatre, health, art…Students get training according to their personal project. Supported by the tutor’s counselling, students define their training itinerary. Therefore, every student gets an individualised itinerary, with different subjects, workshops and work experience adapted to their interests. Every student works at its own path and according to its training needs.
When working on the methodology or during the communication sessions, LVPE students are all together. However, during the subjects’ lessons (Maths, English, French…) different groups are set up. They are smaller groups (about 10 pupils), and they are mixed with Lycée Integral and Lycée Pour la Solidarité Internationale students.
Lessons are given by one or two teachers, depending on what is needed. They are usually practical lessons and encourage students to participate and get involved in the activities. Some lessons are given in the computers room; computers are a common tool in LVPE. The centre has an intranet, where each student and teacher has its own “miniweb”. “Miniwebs” of teachers consist of exercises and activities related to the lessons, that students can practice autonomously. Students “miniwebs” contain their research documents, their CV, photos, etc.
The web site of the school is a well used tool. A part from the miniwebs, the web site also contains a data base about work experience enterprises, employment sites, information about job searching techniques, and even tests of the different subjects.
On Tuesdays afternoon the youngsters leave the centre and work on their personal project. Students choose their project, they work on it during the whole year, with the teacher’s support. For instance, some students are carrying out an autobiographic personal project based on photographs.
During four periods from 5 to 6 weeks, students carry out their work experience in different enterprises. Work experience can be very diverse (social, educational, technological…). Students try different kind of work which helps them to choose their professional profile. Students are responsible for doing research and contact enterprises where they would like to do their work experience. On Mondays, in the school and helped by the teachers, students fill in their work experience book, “livret de stage”, which collects the different abilities and experiences learnt during their stage, and they do an evaluation.
The final evaluation is based on the work carried out during the whole year. Students have a portafolios, containing all the work done, abilities acquired inside and outside the centre. Within the “Class Council”, students explain their experiences and projects in front of the other students, teachers and parents. It is an active meeting where everyone can participate.
The school has a pedagogical team made up by the teachers, the education assistants and the collaborators. Their task is to encourage the students in their learning itinerary, give them personalised support, carry out tutorials, promote workshops and participate in the evaluation.
In La Ville Pour Ecole classrooms, a very positive atmosphere is found. Both students and teachers are motivated by their task. Teachers know full well that they want to help students to be active people in the society.
