Marie-Thérèse Maurette (September 28, 1890 – June 25, 1989) was a French educator who for twenty years (1929-1949) was the director of the

International School of Geneva The International School of Geneva (in French: ''Ecole Internationale de Genève''), also known as "Ecolint" or "The International School", is a private, non-profit international school based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1924 in the servic ...

(Ecole Internationale de Genève, often referred to as Ecolint), the world's oldest international school. She was the author of an original pedagogy of peace inspired by the international institutions present in Geneva: the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

and

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

. Her pedagogy is the basis for the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

Biography

Born Marie-Thérèse Charlotte Dupuy September 28, 1890, at 45 Rue d'Ulm in Paris, she was the daughter of

Paul Dupuy Paul Dupuy, History Lecturer at Paris' École Normale Supérieure, published in 1896 the first scientific biography of the mathematician Évariste Galois, titled "La vie d'Évariste Galois". He attended the École Normale Supérieure at rue d'Ulm ...

(1856–1948), master supervisor, supervisor and secretary general from 1885 to 1925 of the

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

and Louise Marthe Lecoeur. Raised in the premises of the school of the rue d'Ulm, she met her husband; Fernand Maurette became a geographer and economist. They married on March 30, 1911, in Paris and in 1915 they had a son, filmmaker Marc Maurette. She moved to Geneva soon after her marriage with her husband, who in 1924 joined the

(ILO) at the request of his former prep school colleague Albert Thomas. In Geneva, she worked as an educator at the

, founded by local educators and officials of the

and the ILO. She led the school as its Director from 1929 until 1949 and influenced its teaching advocating education for peace, based on respect and openness to others and with a strong international orientation. In 1948 she published the main lines of her teaching following a request of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

in a booklet entitled "Do Education Techniques for Peace Exist?" The former Director General of the International School of Geneva and of the International Baccalaureate,

Professor George Walker George Robert Walker (25 January 1942 – 4 March 2022) was a British educator who was director-general of the International Baccalaureate Organisation. He was also a productive author of articles and other works regarding international educati ...

, dedicated a biography to her. She died June 25, 1989, in Paris at the age of 98.

Pedagogy

The pedagogy advocated by Marie-Thérèse Maurette is based on several elements: # The Synthetic Geography invented by her father

or International Culture that introduces children first to a global image of the world (globe or world map) and to ignore for a time the country from which they come. They study the great elements regardless of frontiers to put the world into perspective. This knowledge is complemented by human geography, which includes demographics to introduce the concepts of relativity between countries and regions. # Teaching of national history begins much later than in most national schools. History is taught from twelve years old. First the world history is taught, then insertion of national history is done to its proper and relative importance. # The practice of two languages: French and English (official languages of the League of Nations), to practice the two modes of thinking inherent in these languages, and generally to understand the thinking of one's interlocutors. The IB draws heavily on the educational principles of Marie-Thérèse Maurette.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maurette, Marie Therese 1890 births 1989 deaths Educators from Paris