The stupid education war
"Pedagogical renewal has always been very heterogeneous and plural." Renewal is the authentic educational tradition of Catalonia: from the pioneer Rosa Sensat to the present day, there is a constant thread of innovation, a desire to stay up-to-date, and continuous improvement. Renewal has never meant, neither before nor now, going against knowledge or memory, as competency-based or project-based work is caricatured today. In any case, the important thing is not the methods or techniques, but the educational objective. Good teachers have always been flexible and pragmatic, empathizing with the student, and demanding and self-demanding.
This is what the book defends. Pedagogical renewal yesterday and today, by Xavier Besalú, number 1 in the new essay collection Minerva of the Rosa Sensat Teachers' Association, an organization now celebrating its sixtieth anniversary and which, during the Franco regime, was key in recovering and updating the legacy of the educators of the years of the Commonwealth and the Republican Generalitat. It would be a shame if the continuity of progressive Catalan pedagogy of the 20th century were to be broken in the 21st century.
Today there is a heated debate, often unpleasant and ill-humored, the result of a great general confusion. There are many factors of instability affecting schools and institutes: the emergence of new technologies (the internet, AI, social media), the growing diversity of students' backgrounds, the bureaucratization of work, changing family units, social precariousness, the economic crisis (cuts in the 2010s), the pandemic, vacuous and demagogic administrative stumbles, methodological struggles, constant organizational transformations, pressure from the labor market, the incorporation of non-vocational teachers (proletarianization of the profession), poor teacher training, loss of prestige and authority, the weakening of traditional habits (civic spirit, attention, effort)... And fatalistic catastrophism rules.
In the face of all this, the educational atmosphere is heating up. Achieving a broad consensus to restore serenity and optimism to education is becoming more complicated. This explains the strange alliance against pedagogical renewal that Besalú sees between neoliberal managerial visions (results-oriented, obsession with data and external evaluations, priority attention to the market, business management of centers), conservative ones (discipline, subjects, values, more exams and less formative evaluation, nostalgia for the past) Enlightenment project -culture, science, reason- in the face of postmodern criticism, more autonomy for the teacher and less center project).
The debate, in any case, is open. What is the middle ground, thegolden mediocrites, between the academic approach (emphasis on disciplines), the technical approach (prioritizing strategies and resources), the practical approach (giving importance to experience and creativity), and the reflective approach (emphasizing teacher autonomy)? Surely the secret lies in not becoming obsessed with either the objectives or the theories of education. It's about understanding that one of the most important challenges for education in the 21st century, marked by the diversity of globalization and social and ideological polarization, is learning to live together. And that school must continue to be a tool to guarantee the social elevator. Also to change the world, to leave it better than we found it: yes, a layer of idealism like that of the pioneers of pedagogical renewal more than a century ago is still necessary.
Xavier Besalú concludes that school and the educational world in general must be a pole of resistance against a bewilderment tinged with a climate of regression. He sees teachers as the primary educational resource, as the soul, and the humanities as the key to strengthening critical thinking: "Teachers must be aware that they practice a cultural profession. How could a teacher who doesn't read instill a love of reading?" He advocates combining master classes with workshops, group or individual work, projects, etc. He recommends variety and flexibility. And he reminds us: "Pedagogical renewal that is worthwhile is a humble, almost anonymous, quiet, and persistent practice; one that shuns spectacularity, publicity, and rankings, but that generates feelings of well-being and belonging in all members of the educational community." A practice like that carried out by three great teachers honored in Besalú's work and who marked an era from diverse ideological traditions and pedagogical references: Rosa Sensat (1873-1961), Maria Antònia Canals (1930-2022), and Sebas Parra (1946-2022).