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«Circus arts, a tool for social inclusion», the concept has been around for twenty years or more. Some talk about it, others put it into practice, others still, observe it, analyse it, study it. It has turned into a worldwide phenomenon. Are we facing a trend, a way to get funding? It turns out researchers have measured the impact of social circus and have attributed special, even magical features to it. After twenty years of experiments, it was important to extract its pedagogical virtues, to identify the origin of this «magic», to determine the skills that should be enhanced by the users of this particular tool.

With the support of the European Commission, eight circus schools, members of the CARAVAN association (*), and two universities (**) have put
their energy together during five years to produce this Guidebook. Months of
observation, analysis, meetings, discussions, essays, exchanges, trainings and
the development of a framework of competences for social circus trainers, have
led to the creation of a common European curriculum. This gave birth to the
Guidebook for Social Circus Trainers. [editor summary]