Becoming Teachers: the Pedagogy Manuals of Normal Schools during the Franco Era (1939-1970)

Abstract

This research investigates the evolution and content of pedagogy manuals
used in Spanish Normal Schools from the end of the Civil War to the enactment of the
Ley General de Educación (1939-1970). It focuses on academic volumes addressing disciplines
such as Pedagogía, Historia de la Pedagogía, Educación y su Historia, Filosofía
de la Educación, Metodología y Organización Escolar, and Prácticas de Enseñanza. The
primary objective is to comprehensively analyse the influence of these pedagogical texts
on teacher training, with an exploration of several critical dimensions: how pedagogy as a
discipline was presented, the representation of non-Catholic pedagogical movements, perspectives
on the inclusion of experimental pedagogy, the ideal teacher model advocated,
and the role of religious and Catholic ideals in shaping methodological proposals. Additionally,
the article seeks to identify developments and changes over this period, highlighting
any transformations in the teaching of pedagogical disciplines despite the educational
policies and cultural directives of the dictatorship.