As I progressed through the Churchill application process in 2019, the Australian media covered the rallies in Catalunya that followed the Spanish Supreme Court sentencing separatist leaders. Eric Campbell's 'Homage to Barcelona' that aired on Foreign Correspondent a few months earlier gave me some insight into the role of schools in the independence movement.
While I was able to find research online in English about learning Catalan language in schools, there was relatively little about how Catalan history is taught. The exception was this McGill Journal of Education article, which led me to Antoni Santisteban Fernández and the Grup de Recerca en Didàctica de les Ciències Socials (GREDICS) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).
I met with Toni and other staff from the Unitat de Didàctica de les Ciències Socials (Roser Canals, Gustavo A. González-Valencia, Joan Coma, Amurabi Oliveira, Neus González-Monfort and Jordi Castellví) on Tuesday. Central to our discussion was to what extent the change to competency-based curricula has led to corresponding pedagogies actually being implemented in Spanish and Australian history classrooms.
In terms of practical resources to achieve this, I was shown a primary and secondary source kit that students use to develop their own narrative about exile from the Spanish Civil War. The sources were carefully curated to show a range of perspectives and students are encouraged to make links to the present. This YouTube video is an example of student work produced in response to the key inquiry question, 'Why did they leave?'
When I provided some political context about Australian history, I made reference to Stuart Macintyre and Anna Clark's book The History Wars. My hosts observed that 'the war is global', in that similar ideologies are pervading debates about history education around the world, including Spain and Brazil.
I then enquired about the Catalan independence movement in particular. I hear that Pauline Hanson has introduced a flippant bill to the Australian parliament this week about stopping teachers from supposedly indoctrinating students. Catalan teachers have actually been arrested over allegations of indoctrination; teacher surveillance is serious business here. (Incidentally, UAB is where Oriol Junqueras works as a history professor but in a different faculty to the one I visited. In 2019 he was sentenced to 13 years gaol for his role in the 2017 Catalan independence referendum.)
On Wednesday I observed Carles Anguera Cerarols's History lesson at secondary school Institut de Gurb. This class is unsual in that it learns history in English language but, to my chagrin, I could not observe a typical class due to my inability to understand Catalan or Castilian! I appreciated my hosts organising this resourceful compromise. I had a great chat with Carles afterwards about teaching for global citizenship and we will stay in touch to arrange for our students to communicate later this year.
Finally, after lunch with some colleagues back at UAB today, Jordi ran me through a variety of relevant resources and publications, and was a sounding board for my evolving thoughts on what my Fellowship outcomes might be. I had a quick stroll down Las Ramblas tonight just because I could, and before leaving town tomorrow, I will visit the Museu d’Història de Catalunya to continue improving my understanding of Catalan history.
THANK YOU to UAB and Institut de Gurb, but especially to Jordi who coordinated my schedule, acted as my translator, overcame late planes and trains, and generously shared his time, expertise and good humour. I look forward to exploring opportunities to support GREDICS research in future.
I met with Toni and other staff from the Unitat de Didàctica de les Ciències Socials (Roser Canals, Gustavo A. González-Valencia, Joan Coma, Amurabi Oliveira, Neus González-Monfort and Jordi Castellví) on Tuesday. Central to our discussion was to what extent the change to competency-based curricula has led to corresponding pedagogies actually being implemented in Spanish and Australian history classrooms.
In terms of practical resources to achieve this, I was shown a primary and secondary source kit that students use to develop their own narrative about exile from the Spanish Civil War. The sources were carefully curated to show a range of perspectives and students are encouraged to make links to the present. This YouTube video is an example of student work produced in response to the key inquiry question, 'Why did they leave?'
When I provided some political context about Australian history, I made reference to Stuart Macintyre and Anna Clark's book The History Wars. My hosts observed that 'the war is global', in that similar ideologies are pervading debates about history education around the world, including Spain and Brazil.
I then enquired about the Catalan independence movement in particular. I hear that Pauline Hanson has introduced a flippant bill to the Australian parliament this week about stopping teachers from supposedly indoctrinating students. Catalan teachers have actually been arrested over allegations of indoctrination; teacher surveillance is serious business here. (Incidentally, UAB is where Oriol Junqueras works as a history professor but in a different faculty to the one I visited. In 2019 he was sentenced to 13 years gaol for his role in the 2017 Catalan independence referendum.)
On Wednesday I observed Carles Anguera Cerarols's History lesson at secondary school Institut de Gurb. This class is unsual in that it learns history in English language but, to my chagrin, I could not observe a typical class due to my inability to understand Catalan or Castilian! I appreciated my hosts organising this resourceful compromise. I had a great chat with Carles afterwards about teaching for global citizenship and we will stay in touch to arrange for our students to communicate later this year.
Finally, after lunch with some colleagues back at UAB today, Jordi ran me through a variety of relevant resources and publications, and was a sounding board for my evolving thoughts on what my Fellowship outcomes might be. I had a quick stroll down Las Ramblas tonight just because I could, and before leaving town tomorrow, I will visit the Museu d’Història de Catalunya to continue improving my understanding of Catalan history.
THANK YOU to UAB and Institut de Gurb, but especially to Jordi who coordinated my schedule, acted as my translator, overcame late planes and trains, and generously shared his time, expertise and good humour. I look forward to exploring opportunities to support GREDICS research in future.