Academy of Geneva

Academy of Geneva, private school of education founded at Geneva, Switz., in 1912 by a Swiss psychologist, Édouard Claparède, to advance child psychology and its application to education. A pioneer of scientific-realist education, Claparède believed that, as opposed to automatic learned performance or simple reflex, thinking must be developed in children, and that education must be tailored to fit the child (l’école sur mesure—“the school made to measure”). The institute soon attracted students from all over the world. Claparède’s work was furthered by his protégé Jean Piaget, who became director of research at the institute in 1921. Piaget’s investigations resulted in a series of influential articles and books on child psychology, stressing the intellectual development of the child. In the 1930s, as vice-director and then director of the institute, Piaget helped to reorganize it as part of the University of Geneva.