The Role of the State and the Church in the Development of Early Childhood Education in Spain (1874–1975)

Abstract

The relationship between Church and State has always been uneasy in Spain and needs to be examined in order to understand the history of Spanish education. There is plenty of literature on educational policies, Church-State conflicts concerning education, debates about freedom of education, freedom of establishment of educational centres (Puelles 1980, 2010 and 2013), freedom of religion and the right of parents to choose schools, as well as on religion as a subject in the school curriculum (Vinao 2014). However, there is not very much literature regarding those subjects related to preschool education and whatever there is focuses more on theories than on policies, perhaps because legislation about preschool was scarce (Sanchidrian 2010, pp. 91–104). This study will focus on the escuelas de parvulos,1 schools for children aged four and five, from 1874 to 1975. Although these schools were not compulsory, they were considered to be the first level of primary education until 1970. Actually, most escuelas de parvulos were situated within the premises of primary schools. Within this period, there were also escuelas maternales intended for children under four but these institutions were very rare: even in 1963–1964 preschool enrolment rates of children aged two and three were still as low as 2 and 3 per cent, respectively (Valiente 2011, p. 225). Therefore, escuelas de parvulos and early childhood education may be considered synonymous in practice.