School during the II Republic

Teaching methods had an exponential improvement during the II Republic. 

In 1812, there was an especific chapter in the Constitution dedicated to educational issues. Although it didn´t mentioned an specific chapter for this area, the 1931 Constitution was the text that developed more deeply educational problems.  It was proclaimed a free, secular and compulsory education. Priding this, it was also established that teachers and proffesors were public servants and educational fees were created.

 In addition to all this measures, bilingual education was encouraged. This allowed catalán. euskera and gallego to be taught. Compulsory religious teaching was eliminated of the educational plan and teachers' ideology may not affect in the way they teach their subject.  Public education must accomplish only the difficult task of teaching the history of religions(without any ideological mood), and more deeply the catholic one. If it is asked, govverment may supply different ways of encouraging catholic education outside the schools.

Public education must have a creative intention, as well as a social one. It may not be isolated from the social community, it must be fully integrated, being specially focused on the parental relationships, proffessional bodies, cultural associations, etc.

 

Public education during this period is considered a govermental function, however if a specific region owns the necessary resources, it may assume the entire economical responsability. Private education is completely allowed if it is not linked to any ideological o political cause.

During the Second Spanish Republic the construction of 15000 schools was proyected, and the number of highschools tripled. The "Misiones Pedagógicas" were created in order to fight illiteracy in rural areas, in which famous intellectuals took part, like Lorca o Max Aub.

Girls education was traditionally developed in their houses, where mothers had the duty to teach their daughters to cook, sew or clean properly. However, during this revolutionary period, the integration of women in education increased, as well as their social integration when sharing classrooms with men (coeducation).

The teacher figure gained importance, with orientational lessons with a 33-months duration and controlled by the Ministery of Education. Teachers were chosen from these courses to develop an specif task in schools, highschools or universities.

Below the Second Republic is broken into three different goverment periods with their educative measures:

 
 

1. Durinng the first two-year long goverment, with the progressive association, the REpublic Constitution of 1931 was aproved, in which the free, secular and compulsory education was established, as well as that teacher would  become state workers. In this period the "Misiones Pedagógicas" were created. 

There were significant changes referring to the bilingual matter, introducing the catalá language foer example, as it is explained above. Religious education is eliminated in schools, and the inspection norrm is created.

2. During the secong two-year goverment, many measures were eliminated by the conservative politicians of the CEDA, mor specifaclally, everything relationed to coeducation. En esta etapa destacan las reformas de la segunda enseñanza, con la aprobación en 1934 del Plan de estudios de bachillerato. Sin embargo, se apostó por continuar la reforma universitaria siguiendo las mismas directrices del anterior bienio.

3 Las terceras elecciones de la República, en 1936, dieron la victoria al Frente Popular, alianza de partidos y organizaciones de izquierdas. A pesar de que entre sus promesas electorales se incluían profundas reformas educativas, el alzamiento militar, que trajo consigo la guerra civil y el punto final a la república, no permitió su puesta en práctica.