The school
Our teaching approach
ESPÉ's teaching signature spells out in one French word: ESPÉ-RIENCE, a play on the school's name and the French for experience. The six letters of RIENCE name six commitments — responsable, impactante, experte, novatrice, collective, exemplaire: responsible, impactful, expert, innovative, collective, exemplary. In practice: small cohorts, teachers who practise, real case studies rather than lectures, and ethics running through the whole curriculum.
Our teaching signature: ESPÉ-RIENCE
It expresses how we see education, and runs through everything we do: the classes, the teaching tools and formats, and the way teachers carry themselves, all in the service of students' success and of the conditions in which they learn.
R for responsable, responsible · I for impactante, impactful · E for experte, expert · N for novatrice, innovative · C for collective, collective · E for exemplaire, exemplary.
R for responsible
Responsibility is at the heart of our mission. The school is committed socially, humanly and environmentally, and wants to take part in the collective effort to make the world better.
Leadership, teachers and students are together the actors and the authors of each course. Teaching is designed to give responsibility and autonomy, and to form professionals who are aware of what they carry.
Ethics and professional conduct run through the whole curriculum: our graduates must be competent, but also responsible and ethical in their practice.
I for impactful
We commit to a deeply impactful educational experience. Passionate and dedicated teachers engage students and make every class an opportunity to change.
This favours understanding, memorisation and lasting integration of concepts, rather than recitation at exam time.
It reaches students in who they are as much as in what they know: that is how a professional stance is shaped, and how practitioners able to have a positive impact on their patients and on the world are formed.
E for expert
Expertise is the foundation. Our faculty rests on recognised expertise, and our approach encourages interdisciplinarity, which opens new and varied perspectives.
Teachers aim to share and pass on their knowledge, combining professional expertise with high-level teaching. Thanks to up-to-date content and the latest research results, we deliver a state-of-the-art education.
N for innovative
Innovation sits at the heart of our teaching: an educational approach adapted to each student, combining theory and practice.
Concrete cases show directly how the concepts taught apply. This innovative approach aims to teach and to pass on knowledge better, meeting the present and future needs of students.
We encourage our future graduates to work in innovative settings, giving them the skills to adapt as the field changes, so that the education stays in step with the realities of today and tomorrow.
C for collective
We believe in the strength of collective intelligence. Teachers are brought together around a collective, co-built teaching project that involves representatives of the psychology profession and experts in the field.
Our approach puts the group at the service of everyone's success: the school's, the teachers' and the students'. Collaboration multiplies talent and lets each person learn from the others.
We teach students to work in a group and for the group, building a solid teaching community in which every member contributes to the shared result.
E for exemplary
We aim for exemplarity in every aspect of our teaching. Teachers act as models: their stance and their conduct show what it means to be an informed, competent psychology professional.
Ethics and professional conduct are built into every course and guide each stage of the programme.
We put integrative psychology first, refusing dogmatism and favouring an open, inclusive approach. Our graduates are able to defend their convictions while respecting and integrating other perspectives.
What a typical week looks like
The balance changes with the year, but the logic stays the same.
- Classes in small groups, where students speak rather than listen in a lecture hall
- Case studies drawn from teachers' own practice
- Fieldwork: voluntary work in year one, placements later, up to apprenticeship on the human resources programme
- Written reflective work on your own practice, marked and discussed
- A follow-up meeting with the programme's academic contact
See the detail by programme
Each programme page sets out the content year by year.