Influence and reception of Freinet in Spain. Map of the historiographical maze: Possible Means of Escape (1979-2016)

The influence and reception of the educational thinking and schoolroom innovations
of Célestin Freinet in Spain is a field of investigation which has been being
exploited for over three-and-a-half decades. At the end of the 1970s, when the Freinet
movement in Spain was making its way back to the forefront amongst the Movements
for Pedagogical Renewal (MPR), the first scientific publication about the first era of
the Freinet movement, during the 1920s and 1930s, appeared. Since then, a little over
100 academic publications have been produced, though they are distinct in genre,
solidarity and weight. The result is a historiographical labyrinth whose multiple paths
lead to successful outlets, blind alleyways and, on occasion, false access points which
simply lead to paths we have already covered. The objective of this paper is to present
an overview of the trajectory of the historiographical study of the presence of Freinets
(«Freinetian») ideas and practices in Spain during the Second Republic, the Civil War
and the Transition to Democracy; to draw a critical balance regarding the current state
of the issue; to offer a number of possible ways out of the maze of historiography; and
present a broad range of specialised bibliographical sources, which will be helpful in
undertaking subsequent research. In addition, this study demonstrates that the Spanish
Freinet movement continues to be a field of investigation which draws the attention of
the scientific community, given the wide-ranging possibilities it offers; furthermore, it
is considered necessary to modify certain analytical perspectives and emphasise others
which, to a greater or lesser extent, are already present in works of research.