Educación y fronteras : María Sánchez Arbós y su lucha por la renovación pedagógica en Canarias (1920-1925)

Abstract

Maria Sanchez Arbos is regarded as a progressive teacher who tried to change teaching by following an agenda of renovation and an active methodology. She belonged to the group of Spanish innovators who, inspired by the ideas of the Free Institution of Teaching, fostered a profound change in the educational model of their day and broke with traditional teaching practices. After graduating from the Advanced Teaching School and earning hands-on teaching experience, Sanchez Arbos began the work of teaching, guided by master teacher Manuel Bartolome Cossio. This article follows her path during her career in the Canary Islands between 1920 and 1925, during a period of required teaching in the Standard School for Teachers. In order to achieve our objective, we used the historic method of research with certain hermeneutical and epistemological limitations. We consulted the historic archives of the former Standard School for Women Teachers and the Canary Island Secondary School, checking the official documents kept there. We also used secondary sources after conducting research in other libraries and newspaper libraries, analyzing the various published works on Sanchez Arbos� thought and teaching activity and her autobiography, Mi Diario. After reviewing the results, we found that her teaching included the introduction of new educational methods that were previously untried in the islands. Besides teaching new teachers, she was the first secondary school and university teacher in the Canary Islands. Since she understood the educational reality, she sought solutions to teaching problems and worked to lift her students from the ignorance of a region historically dominated by local political bosses and a high illiteracy rate. Her application of educational renovation placed her in direct opposition to the traditional methods that ignored the goals of the new school.