What’s the B.A.F.A.?

If you work at one of our locations during French school holidays, you will work with several B.A.F.A. qualified, French counselors. Learn more about this qualification here.

If you’ve clicked through our website a bit, you may have noticed an acronym that you aren’t familiar with - B.A.F.A. We mention it on the French sections of these pages. The B.A.F.A. or Brevet d’Aptitude aux Fonctions d’Animateur or, childcare aptitude certificate, is a qualification that is required by the French government. Under Youth and Sports regulation in France, a certain percentage of childcare workers in a summer camp must have this certificate. The certificate program is open to young adults as young as 16 years old, and is validated through a series of training and work experiences.

If you work at one of our locations during French school holidays, you will work with several B.A.F.A. qualified, French counselors. Their childcare training experience affords a wealth of resources to our language counselor team. These counselors share their knowledge of safety guidelines, camper relationship development, child development and activity development.

We consider that both parts of the team - language counselors and Daily life counselors - are essential to striking the perfect balance between fun, safety and language learning!

If you live permanently in France and are interested in learning more about the B.A.F.A. program, visit the Youth and Sports Ministry’s BAFA webpage here : http://www.jeunes.gouv.fr/bafa-bafd

Amanda B, Pedagogical Director

 American Village counselor and director since 2006