El Testimoni de Rosa Roig, un exemple de renovació pedagògica a les Escoles Normals del primer terç de segle XX = The Testimonial of Rosa Roig : An Example of Educational Renewal in Teacher Training Schools in the Early 20th Century

Abstract

Among the numerous hitherto unpublished documents that we managed to unite when were researching the life and teaching work of Rosa Roig, we came across an invaluable testimonial, written and signed by Rosa Roig herself and dated October 6th 1931, entitled My 18 Years as a History Teacher at the Balearic Women's Teacher Training School. In fifty-five typed pages, Rosa Roig explains in detail her experience as a history teacher at the Balearic women's teacher training school for primary teachers. She reflects scientifically on history as a discipline and outlines the approach she took to teaching it, the internal dynamics of her classes, the activities she undertook with students both inside and outside the class, the material that was used, assessment methods and the results that were obtained. She also highlights her work outside the school in association with her post there, like the publication of articles, organization of scientific activities and participation in social initiatives. On few occasions are we fortunate to count on a testimonial like this, with its detailed insight into the teaching practices of a teacher and the internal history of teacher training schools in the early 20th century, in the midst of the consolidation of an educational reform movement initiated decades before by the ILE (Institución Libre de Enseñanza). Rosa Roig, who trained at the Higher Teacher Training School and was awarded a grant by the JAE (Junta para Ampliación de Estudios) to visit schools in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, became a good example of those reformist teachers who gradually took up teaching posts at teacher training schools before the Civil War. Although we have already studied Rosa Roig's life and work, using these memoires among other documents, we believe that their reproduction may be of great interest to readers of this journal, given that it is a hitherto unpublished document from family archives. We will thus introduce her memoires by giving a brief explanation of who Rosa Roig was and her contributions to educational reforms during the period, contextualizing the reproduced text and highlighting what we consider to be the most important ideas so as to facilitate its reading.