The purpose of the paper is to develop the theory that structural or procedural changes in institutions precede changes in education in a society. It examines the development of pre-modern institutions in Western Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries and the influences this had on growth in literacy rates within these states. Literacy rates in…

The process of teaching and learning is not merely a question of transmitting a received cultural legacy but also of its transformation. Education is inseparable from life and from any socio-political model we wish to build and defend. This implies the impossibility of separating education from politics. Hence we must attempt to provide future…

During the Second Republic of Spain (1931-1939) and within the framework of ambitious social reform, the government of the "Generalitat" of Catalonia launched a social and educational assistance system. This new system would be independent, modern, and capable of surpassing the traditional welfare system based on religious charity that…

This paper builds on two research projects on initial and in-service education of teachers, their professional experience, and the pathways they travelled to become teachers. The policy documents analysed and the teachers' professional histories, the micro-ethnographies and the discussion groups developed, allowed us to draw a broad picture of the…

The forms of students' political participation in the administration of higher education in Spain have evolved throughout history. Spain has developed from a period characterised by the corporatist model of Sindicato Espanõl Universitario--as a single syndicate of students controlled by the Franco Regime--towards the emergence of a student…

Paulo Freire's pedagogy was developed in reaction to the state of "periphery" of illiterate farmers in Brazil and Chile. However, his thinking, which illuminated capitalism's oppressive nature in the classrooms, was enthusiastically accepted in the "centre" and he became a global point of reference for social action. In this…

In recent literature, there has been extensive work revolving around the process of neoliberalism, its implications for the unfolding of state spaces, and its dramatic impact on processes of policy production. Some of this literature offers a periodized trajectory of neoliberalization, by first discussing the consolidation of the Keynesian welfare…