Educational renewal and social commitment in the silver age of spanish education: Félix Martí Alpera

Year 2005

Nº 231, mayo-agosto 2005

This paper presents a study of the educational renewal and the social commitment in favour of childhood developed by one of the most outstanding schoolteachers of the early twentieth century, during the time he was working in Cartagena. Martí Alpera carried out, together with highly qualified headmasters, inspectors and College of Education lecturers, an activity of key mediation between the reception of the new educational tendencies, their regulation, the adaptation to Spanish schools and their diffusion among the teachers.

Martí Alpera took part in the creation of the first graduated schools in Spain and became the prime mover of this kind of school. He journeyed throughout Europe to study the organisation of their schools. A prolific author of educational and didactic works, he was a regular contributor to some of the most important educational reviews of his day. He was also an important defender of childhood, as is shown by his contribution to the introduction of country holidays in Cartagena or his work as Secretary of what was probably the most important Local Board for the Protection of Childhood in Spain. Pedro L. Moreno Martínez.

Key Words: Martí Alpera, educational renewal, protection of childhood, Spain, XXth century, educational history.

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