Natural sciences in the classroom: the experience of Àngels Ferrer Sensat in secondary schools before and after the Civil War (1932-1941)

Abstract

This research deals with Àngels Ferrer Sensat’s educational trajectory between 1932 and 1941. During this period, Ferrer started off as natural sciences teacher at Institut-Escola del Parc de la Ciutadella (1932-1939), an exemplary secondary school of the Escola Nova educational movement under the Spanish Republic. At the end of the Spanish Civil War, Ferrer was purged and sent to Isabel la Católica, a flagship institute of the Francoist dictatorship, where she taught during the first two years of the regime (1940-1941). This paper analyzes Ferrer’s didactic pedagogy used to teach natural sciences within each context through a comparison of her educational practices by a historical-educational approach. At the same time, this research reveals how the real day-to-day practices in the classrooms were in accordance (or otherwise) with the Escola Nova and the Nueva Educación ideals, respectively. Furthermore, this paper proposes Ferrer as an example of possible continuity of the Escola Nova’s scientific practices and didactics during the first phase of Francoism. Finally, it intends to debate how gender roles affected not only educational practices but their acknowledgment.