SALLE D'ASILE CONTRE JARDIN D'ENFANTS. LES VICISSITUDES DE LA MÉTHODE FRÖBEL EN FRANCE (1855‐1887)

Abstract

The Froebel method, which arrived in France in 1855, in Mme de Marenholtz's luggage, valorized a principle that was unusual in the “salles d'asile” of the time — namely the concept of education through games and play activities — and provoked a strong patriotic feeling after 1870. Despite numerous expressions of interest, this method was not officially adopted: between 1881 and 1887, the “salle d'asile” gave way to the infant school rather than to the kindergarten. Froebel's programme, nonetheless, helped unsettle the first French model of preschool education. At the infant school the tiers were replaced by tables, and practical work was included in the curriculum. The reformers were hostile to any kind of systématisation; they opted for an eclectic method, which took into consideration the propaedeutic vocation of the French institution by associating the kindergarten activities with schooiwork.