In the long history of the Catholic school in Europe, it has taken various forms, linked to local cultures and to the history, particularly religious but also political, of each state. While it is possible to account for this diversity, it is also important to highlight common features and challenges, such as secularisation and globalisation,…

There is clear evidence of increasing secularisation across Europe; nevertheless, the authority of the Christian tradition persists. This study focuses on the case of Spain, a well-founded Catholic origin country, which, in just a few decades has become from being one of the most religious to one of the least among Catholics. This investigation…

In 1623, Hernando Ruiz de Alarcón, a parish priest in Atenango, Mexico, was commissioned by his archbishop to record Nahua beliefs and healing practices for the purpose of denouncing their superstitions and demonic magic. His "Treatise on the Heathen Superstitions That Today Live Among the Indians Native to This New Spain," 1629…

Many questions arise regarding the compatibility between scientific and religious education. While some voices have pointed to issues that stem from a traditional model in which science becomes a factor or religious crisis and doubt, other views reveal surprising forms of collaboration and complementarity between both dimensions in the educational…

The article investigates which epistemological considerations justify how religious life fits into the school life, and examines the debate on the participation of religiosity in the education system. I do this, first, by addressing the pedagogical implications of the distinction between public and private as maintained by Richard Rorty and,…

This paper analyses the approach to experimental pedagogy adopted by the new Spanish pedagogy which arose after Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War. To this end, it first outlines the spiritualist and anti-scientific approaches which prevailed in the new pedagogy of the postwar era, before charting the survival, lying beneath this…

The process of school choice depends on a wide range of circumstances including those related to the accessibility to schools and parental preferences. This paper has three goals: (1) Identify whether the preferences for the different kinds of schools (public, publicly-funded private, or private) vary according to the family's traits; (2) estimate…

This article describes the way in which the Catholic faith shapes education at the University of Navarra. The two aspects of the institution's identity, i.e. the Catholic dimension and the university dimension, are not juxtaposed and one is not favoured over the other. Rather, they work together and mutually reinforce each other. The article will…

This article explores the political, religious, and ideological backdrop to psychology and pedagogy under Franco's dictatorship. To this end, it analyses the important research carried out between 1940 and 1944 by the psychologist and pedagogue José J. Jover y Piquer into the intelligence, mentality, and moral judgement of a large number of…

In this article an analysis is undertaken of Spanish educational discourse during the early years of the Franco regime, from the Civil War (1936-1939) to the establishment of the "Nuevo Estado" or New State (1939-1943), employing Reinhart Koselleck's principles of conceptual history. Without totally spurning the totalitarian and fascist…

Children aged from 4;10 to 12;9 attending either a Catholic school or a public, secular school in an eastern Spanish city observed a puppet show in which a mouse was eaten by an alligator. Children were then asked questions about the dead mouse's biological and psychological functioning. The pattern of results generally replicated that obtained…