Tradition and Innovation in the Practical Culture of Schools in Franco’s Spain

Abstract

The paper reviews school practice in Spain through the long historic period of the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco between the 1936 Civil War and Franco’s death in 1975. For this purpose, an analysis is made of the most relevant documents (school materials, reports, direct testimonies by practising teachers, scientific papers on education and education legislation) of each period of Franco’s Regime. Those different types of documents objectify, in accordance with Agustin Escolano’s terminology, three distinct modalities of school culture: the practical, experience‐based culture which is shaped and transmitted by teachers while practising their profession; the scientific culture, which is organized around the knowledge acquired from teaching speculation and research; and the political culture, which comprises political‐institutional discourses and practices that are translated into regulatory provisions supporting the formal organization of education. These three different cultures were supported by three different logics, which proved to be autonomous and at the same time interdependent during the long Franco period. The result will be a presentation of the different importance attached in school practice to tradition, teaching innovations, professional routines and changes.