Cómo referenciar este artículo / How to reference this article Hofstetter, R. (2020). «Freinet Chimneys»: Experimenting with Emancipatory Public Education (Geneva in the 60s to 80s). Piaget’s Dream of an Active School? Espacio, Tiempo y Educación, 7(1), pp. 89-115. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14516/ete.248 «Freinet Chimneys»: Experimenting with Emancipatory Public Education (Geneva in the 60s to 80s). Piaget’s Dream of an Active School?1 Rita Hofstetter email:
[email protected] University of Geneva. Switzerland Abstract: The emancipatory potential of the 1960s had a particular resonance in Swiss education in the French-speaking part of the country. Teachers, parents and unionists, all advocating Freinet pedagogy, demanded that the demonised public education be reformed. Retracing the main steps of their successes and setbacks in the sector of Geneva public education, this article enquires into the rhetorical strategies and tactical alliances the reformists mobilised in order to promote «schools open to life», respectful of the natural longing to learn thanks to educational streams in primary schools dedicated to their cause (the «Freinet chimneys» implemented for a while at the turn of the 1980s). Inputs address the way the leaders of the reform historicised their initiatives so as to establish rightful filiation, calling upon some major figures whilst neglecting others. The scientific approval of Jean Piaget and Élise Freinet, as well as part of the left-wing party in power, might have endorsed the project; nonetheless, the leading