Vocation and professional orientation from the perspective of the Geisteswissenschaften in the work of Joan Roura-Parella

The problem of professional orientation was one of the main theoretical and practical concerns of Joan Roura-Parella until the end of his stay as a teacher in Las Palmas (1923–1930). During this period, his approach to the issue was strictly psycho-technical, as evidenced by the summary of the course he gave at the Círculo Mercantil de Las Palmas, published in 1930. After this period, he moved to Berlin for two years, where he was mainly affected by the powerful influence of Edward Spranger, who introduced him to sciences of the spirit. This influence had a cross-cutting effect on his thinking and radically altered his intellectual interests. The question of professional orientation reappeared in Tema y variaciones de la personalidad (1950), his most mature work. This topic was no longer understood as a problem of adequacy between the abilities of the individual and the profession that he/she must develop, but within the framework of a cultural pedagogy and anthropology.