Rehabilitative learning: Education during pscyhiatric hospitalization

This article presents a case study of a school designed for youth hospitalized for mental disorders, aiming to reveal the educational approach of such a school, a topic on which nothing has been written so far. The study, which lasted a year, employed qualitative techniques: observations, document collection and interviews. The study has found that the school not only provides education to the hospitalized youth, but also functions as an active factor in expediting their recuperation. This significant educational approach is composed of five main principles: (1) Maintenance of a normative atmosphere, (2) Providing the students with a feeling of personal value, (3) Students' responsibility for recovery, (4) Staff's containment of students, and (5) Flexibility. This approach actually endows new meaning to learning, considering it a rehabilitative process.