Regenerationist school practice: The model of traditional pedagogical renovation of teachers during Spain’s Second Republic

Abstract

This article attempts to establish the model of traditional pedagogical renovation that persisted among Spanish teachers in the 1930s: the regenerationist model. The origins of this model can be found in the social movement of nineteenth century regenerationism, which spurred a model of school practices based on the fin-de siècle concepts of encyclopedism and on the graded school. The fact that teachers active during the Second Republic continued to consider these ideas to be innovative attests to a pedagogical anachronism in school practices. In order to examine this anachronism, we have resorted to the files from the public examination of teachers competing for the position of school headteacher in 1932, and in particular, the part of the exam where teachers give an account of their professional work. Through our analysis of the narratives presented, we are able to conclude that regenerationist ideas, as well as their translation into practice, constituted an important part of the professional identity of schoolteachers during the Republic.