Bulletin of the Modern School: scientific and rational teaching

Date: 1901 - 1909

Archive: Municipal Archive of Barcelona

Document type: Textual

Reference code: CAT-AHCB-R 1901 4

Link to the online document

Description: The Modern School, conceived and founded by the anarchist pedagogue and freethinker Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, was an educational project inspired by the ideas of pedagogical renewal that were sweeping Europe at the end of the 19th century. The main pillars of this contemporary pedagogy were the student as an active subject of teaching, continuous assessment, the center of interest or lifelong learning. The Modern School was only open between 1901 and 1906 but its pedagogical mission had a great influence thanks to its publishing house, which continued its activity until 1920. It published works by great authors of philosophy, sociology and all kinds of disciplines that contributed to the spread of knowledge. This educational center was inspired by the rationalist schools of the early 20th century, with a model that was replicated all over the world. Most of its principles are currently assumed by contemporary pedagogy.
Ferrer i Guàrdia, coming from a family of wealthy rural owners, was influenced from a young age by republican and freemasonic ideas and established fruitful contacts with freethinkers from all over Europe, in addition to living at different periods in Paris and Brussels, where he intensified these relationships. He was shot in 1909 in Montjuïc after being found guilty of instigating the Tragic Week revolt. His trial and his death triggered an extensive European campaign, with the participation of labor and secular republican forces, which determined the fall of Maura as head of the Spanish government (October 1909). Considered a European martyr of secular education, a monument was built to him in Brussels.
The “Boletín de la Escuela Moderna: enseñanza científica y racional”, published between 1901 and 1909, had a monthly frequency and an essentially educational objective. Its pages contained information on the commissioning of the Modern School, publicized its publishing house and published articles by teachers, pedagogues, doctors, geographers, writers, philosophers and thinkers in general. The AHCB newspaper archive preserves the 2nd era of the magazine, from 1908 to 1909.

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