At a leisure centre, when an activity leader is unsure which activity to choose, they turn to the educational project. When the centre director wonders whether the activity aligns with the values upheld by the organisation, they refer back to the educational framework. These two documents complement each other in day-to-day practice, but they are often confused because both deal with children, objectives and education.
Understanding the difference between an educational project and an educational programme helps avoid grey areas that can complicate teamwork and communication with families.
Who writes what: who is responsible for each document?
The educational project is written by the organiser of the childcare provision. This may be an association, a local authority or a company that manages the provision. The document sets the direction: the values, educational priorities and target audience. The organiser assumes responsibility for it to families and the authorities.
The educational programme, meanwhile, is written by the director and the activity team. It translates that direction into practical arrangements: schedules, methods, group organisation and rules for living together. It turns a general intention into a way of working.
This division of responsibilities is not simply an internal organisational choice. The French Social Action and Families Code (Articles R227-23 and R227-24) requires the educational project to be drawn up by the individual or legal entity organising the childcare provision. Activity leaders and the director must familiarise themselves with it before starting work, then develop the educational programme within that framework.
Educational project objectives: setting the direction without detailing activities
Educational projects are often too detailed, listing specific activities or describing the schedule for a typical day. That is not their purpose.
An educational project answers a simple question: what kind of child do we want to support, and towards what? The answers take the form of broad educational objectives: fostering independence, encouraging cooperation, respecting each child’s pace and including children with disabilities.
The document also specifies the resources the organiser will provide (premises, budget and staffing), as well as the measures planned to monitor how the provision is run. It must be shared with parents, making it a tool for transparency as well as for management.
What the educational project does not decide
It does not say whether the children will do drama on Tuesday or sports on Thursday. Nor does it choose between a woodland outing and a cooking workshop. Those decisions belong in the educational programme. If the organiser goes into too much detail, the team on the ground loses room to adapt, and the educational programme loses its purpose.
Educational programme content: practical decisions that support the objectives
The educational programme starts with the educational objectives and turns them into concrete decisions. It includes:
- A description of the activities on offer, how they build on one another and how they relate to the organiser’s educational objectives
- How everyday routines are organised (arrival, meals, rest and transitions), taking children’s physiological and psychological needs into account
- How the provision will be evaluated, making it possible to assess whether the objectives have been met and adjust arrangements during the session
- How responsibilities are divided within the activity team, including the responsibilities of the director and each activity leader
The educational programme is rewritten for each session or period. A leisure centre that operates all year round may have several successive versions, tailored to the summer holidays, Wednesdays or shorter school holidays. The educational project, by contrast, remains in place for several years.
When the team on the ground adapts the educational programme
During a holiday stay, the team may find that a group of children does not respond to certain activities as expected. The educational programme is not set in stone. Ongoing evaluation makes it possible to change activities without betraying the organiser’s educational objectives, provided the changes remain consistent with the original direction.
That is the distinction: you can change how you do something without changing why you do it.
How educational projects and programmes work together in group childcare settings
In practice, the two documents form a chain. The organiser submits its educational project when registering the childcare provision with the state authorities (via the TAM platform). The director then writes the educational programme within that framework.
Parents can access the educational project. Depending on the organisation, the educational programme may also be shared with them, but the regulatory requirement applies to the former. This distinction has a direct consequence: the educational project makes the organiser accountable to families, while the educational programme makes the team accountable to the organiser.
The PEDT: a third level not to be confused with the others
At municipal level, the Territorial Educational Project (PEDT) coordinates school, after-school and out-of-school provision with all local stakeholders. It replaces neither an organisation’s educational project nor its educational programme. The PEDT ensures consistency across several childcare settings in the same area, particularly through the Wednesday Plan, which aims to make Wednesday activities part of this continuity.
Confusing the PEDT with an educational project means mixing up a territory’s strategy with that of an individual organisation. The two can coexist, but they have different authors and different scopes.
In practice, when writing or updating either document, the first useful check is to make sure it answers its own question: the educational project says where you are going, the educational programme says how you will get there, and the PEDT says how you will move forward together at local level.
