We believe that school should give the same chances to everyone but it appears it is not the case.
We want to prove the positive impact of violin practice at young ages on the learning of school basic fundamentals such as language, reading and counting.
Our purpose is to convince the public authorities and have them introduce such practice at school for most socially disadvantaged children.
We run a large experiment, as part of the normal school program and have the impact scientifically measured. Key points as follows:
- program developed with the school authorities in charge and their complete support
- 3 violin lessons per week, part of the compulsory program for all children of the schools involved starting age 4 and up to age 8.
- The lessons take place during the regular school hours, in small groups.
- Each child gets their own violin and can bring it back home.
- The violin teachers work together with the school teachers so that they share common themes or subjects.
- Parents are invited to attend the lessons
- Impact measurement is of the essence and 3 research teams work on the project to evaluate
1) the impact on the school results and children behavior
2) the brain evolution with violin practice (Neuroscience study)
3) the economical impact for the society thanks to school dropout rate improvement resulting from the project
The project started with 2 schools in 2015 and now works in 59 schools. In 2024 over 100 schools will be involved.
Over 6000 children are presently involved and they will be 10.000 in 2024, while alumni number grows by 2000 every year.
In 2021 the project won the annual French Education nationale Award for innovation.The ten year period 2015-2025 is our experiment period. After those 10 years we can provide detailed processes, pedagogy and impact measurement results to the public authorities.
Starting 2025 the French Education nationale may decide for a significant spreading at their own expense, based on the complete impact study that also includes economical aspects with the comparison between school dropout cost and project cost.
- Get detailed information from the Vareille foundation project
- Visit one site and discuss with Education nationale in France
- Start discussion with your school authorities and propose to discover the French experience
- Observe the scientific measurement process
