When writing the educational project of a leisure center and finding oneself copying phrases from the organizer’s educational project, it is a sign that the boundary between the two documents remains blurred. This confusion is not trivial: it complicates the work of the animation teams, muddles communication with families, and weakens the coherence of the actions taken with the children.
The educational project and the pedagogical project serve distinct functions, carried by different actors, at decision-making levels that do not overlap.
Who writes what: the distribution of responsibilities in ACM
In collective receptions for minors, the educational project is the responsibility of the organizer (local authority, association, works council). This document sets the general guidelines: the values upheld, the educational priorities, the target audience. It includes broad commitments such as promoting autonomy, encouraging social diversity, or ensuring access to activities for all children.
The pedagogical project, on the other hand, is developed by the management team of the stay or reception. It translates the orientations of the educational project into concrete choices: organization of the days, animation methods, the role of each team member, evaluation modalities. It is an operational document, grounded in the reality of the field.
This articulation is found in the regulatory framework specific to ACM, where the SDJES (Departmental Youth, Engagement, and Sports Service) checks the coherence between the two levels. To delve deeper into the definition of an educational project on My Beautiful Job, this resource details the respective obligations of the organizer and the director.
The distinction does not automatically transpose to other sectors. In daycare, the framework of the Public Health Code imposes an establishment project that combines elements from both the educational and pedagogical aspects. In the school environment, the logic is even different, with the school or establishment project. Each sector has its own regulatory framework, and applying the ACM framework to a daycare or school leads to misunderstandings.
Educational project: a document of values, not an activity program
The most common trap is to fill the educational project with descriptions of activities. It lists cooking workshops, nature outings, sports games, whereas that is not its function. The educational project sets a framework of principles. It answers questions such as: what place do we give to the child in decisions concerning them? How do we manage conflicts? What relationship do we maintain with families?
A well-constructed educational project formulates broad educational intentions without prescribing specific activities. It is these orientations that then leave the field teams the freedom to choose the means.
An overly prescriptive educational project poses a real problem. If the organizer imposes the activities, schedules, and methods, the pedagogical team loses its leeway and the pedagogical project becomes a mere reformulated copy-paste. The healthy articulation between the two documents relies on this tension: clear orientations on one side, autonomy in implementation on the other.
Translating intentions into practice: the concrete role of the pedagogical project
Let’s take a simple case. The educational project of an association mentions “promoting children’s autonomy.” The management team of a leisure center must transform this intention into observable practices.
The pedagogical project will then specify:
- Children choose freely between two or three activities offered each half-day, without prior registration imposed by the adult
- The organization of material storage is arranged with visual cues so that younger children can do it without systematic help
- Transition times (arrival, departure, meals) are designed to limit passive waiting, with freely accessible spaces
The pedagogical project describes verifiable actions, not wishful thinking. This is what allows for evaluation: one can observe if children are truly choosing their activities, measure waiting times, and gather the animation team’s feedback on what works or not.
Evaluation, indeed, remains the weak link in many structures. The pedagogical project is written at the beginning of the stay or season and then filed away. The educational objectives only hold value if they are re-examined along the way, adjusted after team assessments.
The pedagogical project as a training tool
For animators in BAFA or BAFD training, writing or reading the pedagogical project is a formative exercise. It is often the first professional document they are asked to take ownership of. A well-written pedagogical project serves as a daily reference: when an animator is unsure about the stance to take in a conflict between children, they can refer to it to verify the framework collectively established.
Conversely, a pedagogical project written solely by the director, without consultation with the team, becomes an administrative document that no one reads.
Educational project for families: transparency and readability
Some structures choose to make their educational project accessible to families. The Tertre daycare, for example, explicitly presents its educational project “for the attention of families.” This approach changes the nature of the document: it shifts from an internal tool to a communication support that commits the structure to its practices.
For parents, reading an educational project allows them to understand the priorities of the structure even before enrollment. A readable educational project strengthens families’ trust and reduces misunderstandings about the methods used. When a parent understands that the daycare values free play over early formal learning, expectations align.
The pedagogical project, being more technical, generally remains an internal document for the team. But nothing prevents sharing its main points during back-to-school meetings or parent councils.
The distinction between the educational project and the pedagogical project is not a theoretical exercise reserved for inspections. It is an architecture that, when functioning well, provides teams with a clear framework without locking them in, and gives families a coherent view of what their child experiences daily.
