The educational reform of Marcelino Domingo. Implementation of New School ideas in Republican Spain

Abstract

The aim of this research is to reveal the relationship between the educational ideas of Marcelino Domingo, Minister of Public Instruction during the first government of the Second Republic, and the principles of the New School, understanding that his educational reform intended to develop an educational system based on the postulates of this pedagogical movement. To carry out this research, we have chosen an interdisciplinary approach and a qualitative methodology, based on Documentary Content Analysis (DCA). From the analysis of the essays and speeches, we have been able to identify the main pedagogical ideas in the political thought of Marcelino Domingo, related to the New School. The regulation that shaped the new educational system, reflected principles such as coeducation, the active school and creativity. The conclusion of this article is that Domingo was the point of connection between the republican movement and the New School in Spain, since it went from being a minority pedagogical current restricted to private initiatives, to constituting the foundations of the public and official educational system in the Second Republic.

Key words: New School, Spain, educational innovation, political thought, educational policy, republicanism.