**Title**

Review: Éduquer par la Philosophie et le Conte au Développement Durable: 12 Ateliers Pédagogiques (Education through philosophy and tale for Sustainability development: 12 pedagogical workshops)

**Permalink**

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6wm7f42m

**Journal**

Electronic Green Journal, 1(43)

**Author**

Laberge, Yves

**Publication Date**

2020

**DOI**

10.5070/G314346653

**Copyright Information**

Copyright 2020 by the author(s). This work is made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Peer reviewed
**Electronic Green Journal**
Volume 1, Issue 43

**Review: Éduquer par la Philosophie et le Conte au Développement Durable: 12 Ateliers Pédagogiques Education through philosophy and tale for Sustainability development: 12 pedagogical workshops**

By M. Julia and V. Létoublon

**Reviewed by Yves Laberge**

Québec, Canada

Julia, Marie-José and Létoublon, Vincent. *Éduquer par la Philosophie et le Conte au Développement Durable: 12 Ateliers Pédagogiques*, (Education through philosophy and tale for Sustainability development: 12 pedagogical workshops). Lyon, France: Chronique Sociale, 2018; 239 pp. ISBN: 9782367175546, paperback, €15.90.

This interdisciplinary book in French is mainly for teachers in primary schools, philosophers, and creative writers who want to educate for sustainability using stories and tales for children. *Éduquer par la Philosophie et le Conte au Développement Durable: 12 Ateliers Pédagogiques* uses some very original approaches that have been tested with more than 150 pupils across various schools in France. Its title means "educating with philosophy and tales for sustainable development: twelve pedagogical workshops". The coauthors have penned twelve original stories — or rather, modern tales or fables — that metaphorically refer to environmental issues, avoiding fear, extreme dangers, insoluble hazards, Manicheism, over-dramatization, and promoting instead respect for life, optimistic perspectives, empowerment, and ethical values (see pp. 101-212). All these tales (with characters, situations, dialogues) address the underlying question "Why should we care about nature?" In terms of their theoretical framework, the authors aptly refer to many sources, charters, and international agreements related to the environment, but they also invoke works by Serge Boimare, a French educational psychologist and theoretician who wrote extensively on the side effects of fear and the ways to avoid fear in stories and tales targeting young readers. Fear is often considered by educators as paralyzing and unproductive (pp. 13-14, 62-68). Just like myths, tales and fables about nature and the environment should rather enable children to think, learn, understand complex issues, and feel competent for action and social change.
The first third of the book revisits and sometimes even criticizes some of the fundamental principles of sustainable development before presenting some pedagogical strategies to implement workshops in the classroom. In the central section, the twelve workshops are based on a variety of topics, ideas, themes, and issues that are illustrated with a story or tale between 2-5 pages each. Obviously, these pedagogical workshops could be adapted in other cultures and for different contexts (or for older pupils at the secondary level). The final pages explain how to introduce, intertwine, and optimize these activities with the curriculum.

At the university level, this *Éduquer par la Philosophie et le Conte au Développement Durable* will be useful for future teachers who need to use or (re)create empowering stories for children featuring environmental issues and relying on ethical grounds. Obviously, these readings and tales can be matched with an outdoor visit or excursion related to environmental education courses and serve as a complement.

This original book by Marie-José Julia and Vincent Létoublon is quite unique in its approach and theoretical framework. No translations have been made yet. However, potential readers must have more than just a basic knowledge in French to follow the demonstrations. But these stories could be interestingly used in French classes at an advanced level. Although, as such, these isolated stories might seem incomplete or groundless without the accompanying analysis and the irreplaceable educational strategies proposed in the first chapters and in the following pages (pp. 213-228). The French publisher, Chronique Sociale, has released other titles related to environmental education, for example *Éduquer à l'Environnement par l'Approche Sensible: Art, Ethnologie et Écologie* (2018), by Édith Planche. Books published by Chronique Sociale can also be ordered directly from the publisher's website.

Yves Laberge, Ph.D., ylaberge@uottowa.ca, Centre ÉRE, Québec, Canada