Concepción Saiz Otero (May 22, 1851March 1934) was a Spanish teacher,
pedagogue
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...
,
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
, and writer who advocated for women in education.
After being awarded the title of Superior Teacher in 1878, she directed the first graduate school for women within the Association for the Teaching of Women from 1881 to 1884. Otero was a teacher at the Central Normal School for Teachers in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
from 1884 until her retirement in 1921.
She spoke at the 1882 and 1892 Pedagogical Congresses in Madrid. In 1909, she was appointed Chair of Languages at the newly created School of Higher Education Teaching.
In addition to teaching, Otero was a prolific writer who published several books and numerous articles, often discussing teaching and the role of women's education.
She collaborated with
Urbano González Serrano
Urbano González Serrano (Navalmoral de la Mata, 25 May 1848 — Madrid, 13 January 1904) was a Spanish Spanish philosophy, philosopher, sociologist, psychologist, pedagogue, literary critic, and politician. Juan Antonio Garcia posited González ...
in 1895 on ''Letters...Pedagogical? Essay of Pedagogical Psychology'', which critiqued the traditional model of education based on rote exercises.
Though her pedagogically focused books were well-respected, Otero's most known work is ''A National Episode
Pérez Galdos Did Not Write: The 1868 Revolution and Feminine Culture,'' which describes the changing educational landscape for women in Spain from a woman's perspective and provides a detailed account of her own career in education and the challenges she faced as a woman in the field.
In 1921, she was awarded the
Cross of Alfonso XII,
and there is a street named in her honor in
Zaragoza
Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saiz Otero, Concepcion
1851 births
1934 deaths
People from Santiago de Compostela
19th-century Spanish women writers
19th-century Spanish writers
Heads of schools in Spain
Spanish feminists
20th-century Spanish educators
19th-century Spanish educators
20th-century Spanish women educators
19th-century Spanish women educators