The experimental school in Bonneuil-sur-Marne with commentary from a North American context

Abstract

The Experimental School in Bonneuil-sur-Marne was founded by Maud Mannoni in 1969 as an institution for children and adolescents with difficulties. Mannoni wanted Bonneuil to be a different place, a living space rather than a space of care. "At Bonneuil," Mannoni (1976) would say" we receive children troubled by the system-whether it is the education system, the family or the social system. And the adults who take care of them, such as myself, could also be defined as troubled by the system, in the sense that they cannot bear working as caregivers in hospitals or as teachers in secondary schools" (p. 21).