Influence and Reception of Freinet in Spain. Map of the Historiographical Maze: Possible Means of Escape (1979-2016)

Abstract

The influence and reception of the educational thinking and schoolroom innovations of Célestin Freinet in Spain is a field of investigation which has been being exploited for over three-and-a-half decades. At the end of the 1970s, when the Freinet movement in Spain was making its way back to the forefront amongst the Movements for Pedagogical Renewal (MPR), the first scientific publication about the first era of the Freinet movement, during the 1920s and 1930s, appeared. Since then, a little over 100 academic publications have been produced, though they are distinct in genre, solidarity and weight. The result is a historiographical labyrinth whose multiple paths lead to successful outlets, blind alleyways and, on occasion, false access points which simply lead to paths we have already covered. The objective of this paper is to present an overview of the trajectory of the historiographical study of the presence of Freinet’s («Freinetian») ideas and practices in Spain during the Second Republic, the Civil War and the Transition to Democracy; to draw a critical balance regarding the current state of the issue; to offer a number of possible ways out of the maze of historiography; and present a broad range of specialised bibliographical sources, which will be helpful in undertaking subsequent research. In addition, this study demonstrates that the Spanish Freinet movement continues to be a field of investigation which draws the attention of the scientific community, given the wide-ranging possibilities it offers; furthermore, it is considered necessary to modify certain analytical perspectives and emphasise others which, to a greater or lesser extent, are already present in works of research.

Keywords: Freinet; Spain; Historiography; Second Republic; Transition to democracy.