FERRER I GUARDIA

THE MODERN SCHOOL MOVEMENT

Ferrer i Guardia created his own school but he created also a movement like a philosophical approach to education (It is a movement, it is not a school). Barcelona, June (1902)

Bio

Born on Jan 14, 1859 (Alella) - 1909 (Barcelona) 

He didn’t have the particular interest in education, he was looking only for a job for being payed. He was born in a middle-class family.

He worked in a shop of a flour merchant also as a ticket collector for a Railway Company. 

Took the road to exile in Paris. Became the secretary of the Republican Party. He taught Spanish at the Philothechnic Association in France.

He left Alella to live in Barcelona. There, he started being in contact with movement that were more libertarian, those movement were call anarchist movement

Life during these years

- Housing, food and health conditions evidenced how hard was to live.

- In 1900, workers in Barcelona worked 10 -12h. Woman were underpaid and lost acquisitive power

- 1909, meat was more expensive in Barcelona than London.

Also Montessori was working with this kind of children.

State schools both in the rural and big cities were in poor conditions (unhealthy) 

2 out of 5 kids did not know how to read and write (like his parents)

Private schools (Religious) grew their importance compared to State Schools (resourceful) They have more materials and better facilities. No everybody could afford this schools. There wasn't a middle class, there were only wealthy and poor people. In private schools would save a couple of spots for poor kids. What happen when you mix wealthy kids with a poor kid? The kid would have barriers like activities that involves among of money

Boys and girls attended different schools. For many reasons, distractions, different curriculum,... Ferrer Guardia started changing this. 

Modern School Influences

Influencies

Active pedagogy based on scientific standards: J. Dewey school helps participation in democracy and M. Montessori “The school seeks the interest of the child”

It doesn’t mind the material, the important thing is what you do with the kid

Modern protestant educators: Jan Amos Komensky (coeducation and social masses) and Rousseau, Pestalozzi and Neil laid the ground for humanizing pedagogy and freedom.

With Komensky, Ferrer i Guardia started getting the idea that school should mixed girls and boys. 

Principles:

Ferrer wants to created the “rational and scientific” school (system). He wanted to use the scientific method in education. The reason was because that he was comparing private schools that the method was memorizing, repeating over and over. And was dogmatic (there is only one truth and you have to memorized and can’t be questioned). He wanted the opposition to dogmatism with the scientific method. There was a huge difference between classes. Private schools would reproduce this because poor kids couldn't afford it. 

Ferrer’s school explicitly taught children that militarism was a crime, that the unequal distribution of wealth was a thing to be rejected (due to the historical context)

The school should be equal between the wealthy and poor kids. There was nothing similar with his schools system. 

The education is not based in faith but based on solid knowledge.

Coeducational of social masses

Substituting the old dogmatic teaching for the rational method of the natural sciences. Everything has to be proved and with evidences. 

Securing hygienic conditions, avoiding contagious diseases during school hours. We have to take care of students. If your basic condition are covered, you will concentrated in class because you aren’t hunger.

Instruct the young in some social duties following the principle “there are no duties without rights, and no rights without duties” He concentrated in the social part of this principle. 

Libertarian: moving away from authority (physical and emotional punishments) into the good of freedom. Based of Neill (Summerhill)

The first Modern School

Opened in 1901 had 30 kids (12 girls, 18 boys) in 1906 reached 100 kids ( c/ Freinet)

Working class. Principles of solidarity (if you could pay 5, you would paid 5). Families would pay according to their incomes. It’s not a thing it will stop the student going to the school.

No rewards or punishments. Montessori approach

The school would open before and after class (primary). Before to support families with babies, after to help seniors. It was a community center that you could have a meal a day or take a bath. Afterwards the school would be for seniors, Saturday was a school way. 

Teachers

Ferrer provided his own teachers with training courses (at the same school facilities)

Would hire them by writing to the newspapers posting adds for: writers, scientific and scholars who would like to participate in writing textbooks for kids. He tries to find “people” more than “teachers” to do the training courses for his school. Santiago Ramón y Cajal answer his call (a nobel prize) to write the books. 

Would organize conferences, afternoon snacks for everybody to attend. It was like a community similar to Summerhill

Materials

Existing textbooks were considered inappropriate (because were dogmatic) for his school used some of his fortune to build a publishing house (Editorial) to develop special textbooks for the school.

He produced some revolutionary pamphlets and manifestos as well as introductory texts to the natural and social sciences. 

Nono’s adventures

A 9 year old kid who would live in a country called Autonomia and where money didn’t have any value whatsover (where al social status would not reflect any difference)

Argirocràcia was other country where money, different social status would be most value and desire. 

In this book, the main character wanted to live between two societies. There were to kind of societies in Autonomia, money has any role. Everybody is equally involved in society. 

Schedule

They have everyday Physical Education and reading through, letters, … He tries to not separate disciplines. (Geometry and drawing together, it is another example)

Nowadays, in many schools we still have subjects and no projects.

Closing the Modern School:

Ferrer’s name is linked to the Tragic Week (general strike. July 1909, 26th July) He was in France when this happens. He was wrongly accused because he had liberally thoughts. His (militar) trial lacks of proofing and exerts a moral conviction. He was the scapegoat.He’s executed in Montjuïc OCt, 13 1909. The school was closed thereafter. After his death his view spread out everywhere in Europe and South America: Portugal, Amsterdam and Brasil.

Modern school created follow-up schools such as: 

- Escola del Bosc

- Escola del Mar

- Escola Paideia

The city hall (institution) of Barcelona created his own school system by creating schools that were many following Ferrer i Guardia’s ideas.

The idea was to cover basic need that kids could not have in their own house. These schools they were easily spot because they have these names that refer to nature (Escola del Bosc i Mar). That was because they used naturalism.