Governess

Facilitates the child’s transition from the home environment to social life, helps with lessons and instils the basics of etiquette.

The governess makes life for children outside of school both interesting and educational. A skilled teacher, she organises excursions, educational games, reading activities and theatrical performances in foreign languages. As a rule, the governess is not responsible for the care of the children (feeding, dressing, hygiene) but focuses on their extra-curricular education, including foreign language learning. In doing so, she can supervise home-schooling through organising a schedule of activities with tutors and through overseeing the completion of homework. A governess is expected to be highly cultured, showing the children how to behave in public spaces, how to engage in small talk and how to behave at the dinner table. She is the parents’ confidant in all that relates to the intellectual development of the children.