The 6 pillars

SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION

A bridge between research and practice

Neuroscience shows that children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development from ages 0 to 6 is crucial, as 85% of brain connections form during this period. The growth of executive functions strongly depends on early secure attachment and the development of self-confidence.

To address these challenges, Babilou Family has created a shared educational framework across its ten countries. Its Sustainable Education® approach is based on recent scientific insights and structured around six key pillars.

6 PILLARS

Globally, the six pillars serve as universal standards that meet the needs of young children in group settings. Sustainable Education® applies to everyone, combining educational action for children and support for parents. Locally, each country and each center adapts the six pillars through diverse practices that align with regulations, cultures, and the specific needs of families.

Sustainable Education is not uniformization, but a global framework to provide the best for each child.

Laurie Catteeuw, PhD, Education Director, Babilou Family Group

Ensure the physical safety and emotional security of the young child

This first pillar aims to build young children’s self confidence, essential for their socio emotional development and ability to explore, learn, and regulate their emotions. Physical and emotional safety go hand in hand.

At Babilou Family, we work closely with parents to ease transitions between home and our centers. Every facility offers a familiarization period that helps the educational team build a trusting relationship with families and their child.

Build on the child’s natural curiosity and knowledge as scaffolding to support development

A child’s natural curiosity drives all learning: by exploring, testing, and trying again, children stay actively engaged and build attention and concentration.

At Babilou Family, educational teams continuously adapt learning environments to nurture this curiosity. Changing books, offering new puzzles, or introducing simple sensory experiences—like digging in fresh soil—creates daily opportunities for discovery and learning.

Encourage nature-based learning

Time spent outdoors and contact with nature improve children’s well being, reduce stress, and support emotional regulation, all of which enhance learning and concentration. Nature also boosts their brain and motor development.

At Babilou Family, we encourage daily outdoor time and create nature focused areas inside our centers. Vegetable gardens, aquariums, chicken coops, and observation tables with seasonal natural elements offer rich learning opportunities and help children build long term respect for the environment.

Allow time Encourage nature-based learning to respect the child’s rhythms

Each child is unique and develops at their own pace—speeding things up in early childhood is counterproductive. Instead of applying a single pedagogy to all, Sustainable Education® adapts play experiences and educational actions to each child’s age, development, and current interests.

To personalize group care, Babilou Family relies on careful observation by its educational teams. This helps identify individual needs—such as different signs of fatigue—so children can, for example, nap at the right moment through staggered rest times.

Foster inclusion, open-mindedness, diversity and multiculturalism

At Babilou Family, we welcome all languages and diverse learning needs—this is part of our DNA across ten countries. Social and cultural inclusion is central to our educational approach, ensuring every child is recognized in their uniqueness and personal story.

We promote multilingualism and encourage partnerships between centers in different countries to enrich practices. Valuing home languages and supporting plurilingual environments are key to building an inclusive setting for all children.

Work with families to create a harmonious educational journey

At Babilou Family, we know that emotional security is the foundation of any learning journey. Children need to feel confident before they can enjoy learning to read and write.

To nurture young children’s self confidence and joy of learning, we collaborate closely with parents. This is why the final pillar of Sustainable Education® is dedicated to families. Our teams offer learning walls, workshops, and observation moments, making the nursery a place that supports and strengthens parenting skills.

Discover our 3 books

Each book dives deep into the science and practice behind our educational commitments — available for educators and families alike.

The joy of living

How we cultivate a love for life in our centres — building the emotional foundations that allow children to thrive.

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The joy of learning

Nurturing natural curiosity through science-based pedagogy — empowering children to discover, explore, and grow.

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The joy of belonging

Fostering inclusion, diversity and a sense of community — where every child and family feels welcomed and valued.

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Watch more on our Youtube Channel