FIMEM Internal regulation

FIMEM Internal Regulation

2010*

Internal Regulation voted in General Assembly – RIDEF Japan 1998;

§3 and §7b) modified at the RIDEF, July 2004 in Germany;

§7a), §13 and §16 modified at the RIDEF, July-August 2008 in Mexico;

§3 modified at the RIDEF, July 2010 in France.

Section 1

The FIMEM is composed of pedagogical movements from all around the world that recognize the Charter of the “Ecole Moderne"¹, Freinet Pedagogy.

In the countries where there is no membership of FIMEM and where, at the moment, there are not the necessary conditions to form one, the

Section 2

In principle, only one movement is recognized in each country.

However, the FIMEM may consider, as an exception to the main rule, that it is useful to recognize several movements, in the following situations:

• when the geographical importance of the country justifies it (larger than 100 000 km²);

• when there is a country with several official languages (in this case one movement of each particular language may be recognized);

• when historically several movements have been constituted at the same time, or one by one, or one as a reaction against the other one.

In these situations, however, the accent will always be on the need of these movements to work in a permanent way to set up forums for discussion inside the country in an attempt to reduce divergences between movements, aiming at only one movement or at one national federation of the existing movements.

Section 3

Each ordinary member movement has to pay a minimum subscription of 15 € for one year. For A and B category the subscription takes into account the average salary of a primary school teacher in that country, the number of members of that movement and the development level of the country.

Movements are classified in several categories:

·         Category A: Movement from a “developed” country.

·         Category B: Movement from a “developing” country.

·         Category C: Movement from an "underdeveloped" country.

·         Category D: Creation of a movement in progress (not yet a member).

Each movement’s category is attributed by the Board of Directors, taking into account the known economical information available. This classification is communicated to the movement itself and it is published each year with the subscription’s list.

The annual subscription for Category A and B is calculated by applying the following formula : M = N x S x K

        ·         M: Annual subscription

·         N: Number of members in the national movement (maximum number in the previous year)

·         S: Annual average salary of a primary teacher who has been teaching for 15 years, after deducing the taxes

·         K: Coefficient for each category

Category A: K=0.0001, Category B: K=0.00005

If the ammount is below 15 €, the movement has to pay the minimum subscription.

Countries from A Category which average salary per year is less than 50% from the maximum average salary in this Category could benefit of a Coefficient K = 0,000075.

Section 4

Presentation of the candidates to be a member of the Board of Directors:

When convened to the General Assembly, each movement is given a form, which is to be filled in with the names of their possible candidate(s) and sent to the Board of Directors. This document, ­properly signed by the representative authorities of the movement, must be sent back to the secretary of the FIMEM, at the latest one month before the General Assembly is held. To be able to present a candidate to the Board of Directors, the movement must have paid its FIMEM subscription.

Section 5

The qualifications needed to be a member of the Board of Directors :

To be a candidate, one has to be a member of a pedagogical movement belonging to the FIMEM, engage him-/herself in a contract of work for the Board of Directors and the FIMEM, to be involved in pedagogical activities, and have taken part in at least one international meeting.

Section 6

Each member of the Board of Directors may be assisted or substituted, in case of impediment, by a substitute designed by his/her own movement. The FIMEM only pays the travelling expenses for one person.

Section 7a)

The reimbursement of the expenses with the BD-FIMEM meetings is granted according to the following rules :

The expenses of each Board of Directors meeting are shared by the movements whose representative attends the meeting.

The FIMEM pays 60% of the total expenses. The remaining 40% “national parts” are paid by the movements whose representatives attended that meeting. Every movement whose representative attended the meeting pays an equal amount, no matter what the particular expenses of its own representative are.

To calculate the national part one follows these formula:

• Total Amount of Expenses: The sum of the personal and collective expenses of all the participants in the meeting

• Medium Expense: Total expense divided by the number of participants

• National Part: 40% of the medium expense

• The FIMEM pays the remaining of the expenses (60 % of the total amount of the expenses)

Members of the Board of Directors are reimbursed for the total of their expenses.

If the B and C countries do not manage to pay their whole national part, they pay what they can. The rest is paid from the FIMEM solidarity fund.

Section 7b)

To the auditors, who meet the treasurer in order to examine the account (one meeting maximum between two RIDEFs), the reimbursement of their expenses is granted according to section 7a).

Section 8

People with experience can be invited to be consultants and advisors on occasional problems. Such persons have no voting rights in any debate. Their travelling expenses and accommodation are paid by the FIMEM.

Section 9

Prior to the General Assembly, the Board of Directors has to appoint a committee within the members assigned to organize the elections and the voting. Only movements that have paid their FIMEM membership fees have the right to vote.

Section 10

The elections take place with an open list and with the possibility of crossing out names on the list. Voting will be done by ballot. The candidates have to be present during the election unless they have been exempted by the Board of Directors. There is no election permitted by post or proxy without special exemption decided by the Board of Directors.

Section 11

The rules of representation and the number of representatives having the right to vote are as follows :

• movements with 20 to 300 members: 1 vote

• movements with 301 to 600 members: 2 votes

• movements with 601 to 900 members: 3 votes

• movements with 901 to 1200 members: 4 votes

• movements with more than 1200 members: 5 votes

These representatives must possess a document from their movement showing that they are properly elected as a delegate. One representative may have a mandate for several votes attributed to his/her own movement.

Section 12

Regeneration of the Board of Directors :

The Board of Directors is renewed by one third every second year. Exceptionally, if necessary, the outgoing members will be randomly chosen. Outgoing members can be re-elected. The total length of a person's Board of Directors mandate must not be more than six years (a first mandate of four years, followed by a second mandate of two years). In case of resignation of a member of the Board of Directors during his/her mandate, other people will be co-opted by the Board of Directors to complete the period of this mandate.

Section 13

Any BD member or his/her substitute who has been absent for two consecutive sessions is considered to have resigned, except in case of absolute necessity left to the judgment of the BD. It is obligatory for the BD members to be present at the international meetings.

Section 14

Every movement organizing an international meeting of FIMEM is obliged to reserve:

• 5 % of the income from the participants of the meeting for solidarity actions, in order to make possible a participation of our friends from disfavored countries, as well as to give help to teacher training initiatives or equipment acquisition;

• 5 % of the income from the participants of the meeting, to finance the activities of the FIMEM.

Section 15

The movement organizing an international meeting must present a provisional budget to the Board of Directors.

The agreement between the Board of Directors and the organizing movement links the two parts according to the following rules:

1) If as a result there is a profit:

• Reimbursement to the FIMEM: 60%

• Part of the profit to the organizing movement: 40%

2) If as a result there is a deficit:

• Part of the deficit to be held by the FIMEM: 60%

• Part of the deficit to be held by the organizing movement: 40%

If the organizing movement did not obtain the Board of Directors’ agreement on the provisional budget, the FIMEM can not be asked to take charge of any part of the losses. The rules relative to a profitable financial balance remain the same (situation 1 above).

Section 16

To benefit from money of solidarity it is necessary to fulfil certain conditions. An applicant has to:

• work directly in a school in contact with children ;

• be already engaged in Freinet pedagogy ;

• work in an area where the economic conditions do not allow a participation in an international meeting ;

• profit from less than 25 % from subsides - if there are any - from other organizations.

The (solidarity) application must be communicated to the BD through a movement, at least 4 months before the meeting takes place. This help is attributed to one person and can not be transferred to any other person without the agreement of the Board of Directors.

In order to increase the efficacy and in order to allow more people to come into contact with the international life of FIMEM, this aid should not always be attributed to the same people.