Biology curriculum in twentieth-century Spain

Abstract

One hundred years of history of Spanish biology curricula are reviewed in this article. The aim of this analysis is focused on the relationship between socially con- troversial biological issues and the decisionmaking procedures in the construction of the national curricula published under the different regimes that have governed Spain over the last 100 years. The study covers the secondary level of schooling (age 10 up to university), and is based mainly on the data afforded by the official publications of the nine national curricula in twentieth-century Spain, and some of the main textbooks used for this schooling level. Special attention is given to the teaching of evolution, the most sensitive issue in biology education, and some parallelisms are traced and com- pared with similar phenomena occurring in other countries. The new trends in biology education from the last reform of the Spanish education system are briefly discussed. This study provides a perspective of the pressures affecting socially controversial issues in- cluded in education. These pressures have been identified mainly as political, social, and religious beliefs held by powerful and influential social groups, the same kinds of forces that have existed in other countries worldwide. Studies such as this one, about the real forces that have shaped curriculum development in the past, are vital for understanding the present circumstances in biology education and, therefore, unavoidable in order to enhance future standards in biology education. q 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 83: 97- 111, 1999.