La Institución Libre de Enseñanza (ILE, English: ''The Free Institution of Education''), was an educational project developed in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

for over half a century (1876–1936). The institute was inspired by the philosophy of Krausism, first introduced to the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loc ...

Julián Sanz del Río Julián is the Spanish equivalent of the name Julian. Notable people with the name include: * Julián, Julián Cuesta, Spanish footballer * Julián Orbón (1925–1991) Cuban composer * Julián Carrón (1950) Spanish Catholic theologian * Juliá ...

, and which, despite being subsequently ejected from that university, was to have a significant impact on intellectual life in

Restoration Spain The Restoration ( es, link=no, Restauración), or Bourbon Restoration (Spanish: ''Restauración borbónica''), is the name given to the period that began on 29 December 1874—after a coup d'état by General Arsenio Martínez Campos ended the F ...

. The institution was founded in 1876 by a group of disaffected university professors, including Francisco Giner de los Ríos, Gumersindo Azcarate, Teodoro Sainz Rueda and Nicolás Salmerón, who distanced themselves from the main university campus in Madrid to achieve

academic freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teach ...

. They declined to adjust their teaching to any official religious dogma or the moral and political imposition of the time. Consequently, they had to continue their educational work outside the state sector by creating a secular private educational institution, starting with university level instruction and later extending their activities to primary and secondary education. They supported and seconded the intellectual ideas of Joaquín Costa, Leopoldo Alas (Clarín), Ramon Perez de Ayala,

José Ortega y Gasset José Ortega y Gasset (; 9 May 1883 – 18 October 1955) was a Spanish philosopher and essayist. He worked during the first half of the 20th century, while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism, and dictatorship. His philosoph ...

Gregorio Marañón Gregorio Marañón y Posadillo, OWL (19 May 1887 in Madrid – 27 March 1960 in Madrid) was a Spanish physician, scientist, historian, writer and philosopher. He married Dolores Moya in 1911, and they had four children (Carmen, Belén, Marí ...

Ramón Menéndez Pidal Ramón Menéndez Pidal (; 13 March 1869 – 14 November 1968) was a Spanish philologist and historian."Ramon Menendez Pidal", ''Almanac of Famous People'' (2011) ''Biography in Context'', Gale, Detroit He worked extensively on the history of t ...

Antonio Machado Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz (26 July 1875 – 22 February 1939), known as Antonio Machado, was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation ...

, Joaquín Sorolla, Augusto González Linares,

Santiago Ramón y Cajal Santiago Ramón y Cajal (; 1 May 1852 – 17 October 1934) was a Spanish neuroscientist, pathologist, and histologist specializing in neuroanatomy and the central nervous system. He and Camillo Golgi received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or M ...

and Federico Rubio, among others involved in educational, cultural and social renewal.

History

Following the implementation of the political model of

Antonio Cánovas del Castillo Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (8 February 18288 August 1897) was a Spanish politician and historian known principally for serving six terms as Prime Minister and his overarching role as "architect" of the regime that ensued with the 1874 restor ...

, who wanted to secure a fundamentalist nation as ordained by the divine will, an 1875 " Royal Decree" issued by education minister Manuel Orovio Echagüe severely limited academic freedom in Spain "if it went against the tenets of faith", meaning the contemporary

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Roman Catholicism in Spain. In 1881, some professors migrated to the independent ILE. They trained Manuel Bartolomé Cossío, who succeeded Giner in leading the institution, as well as Ricardo Rubio, Pedro Blanco Suárez, Angel do Rego, Joseph Ontañón Arias and Pedro Jiménez-Landi. The ILE lasted until the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

in 1936, following which all such progressive education was destroyed by the conservative

Spanish State Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

. The list of contributors to ''The Bulletin of the Free Institution of Education'' included

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, a ...

Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson Le Roy, ...

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the fi ...

Miguel de Unamuno Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. His major philosophical essa ...

Montessori The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

, H. G. Wells,

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

Juan Ramón Jiménez Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón (; 23 December 1881 – 29 May 1958) was a Spanish poet, a prolific writer who received the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which in the Spanish language constitutes an example of hi ...

Gabriela Mistral Lucila Godoy Alcayaga (; 7 April 1889 – 10 January 1957), known by her pseudonym Gabriela Mistral (), was a Chilean poet-diplomat, educator and humanist. In 1945 she became the first Latin American author to receive a Nobel Prize in Li ...

, Benito Perez Galdos, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Azorin,

Eugenio d'Ors Eugenio d'Ors Rovira ( Barcelona, 28 September 1882 – Vilanova i la Geltrú, 25 September 1954) was a Spanish writer, essayist, journalist, philosopher and art critic. He wrote in both Catalan and Spanish, sometimes under the pseudonym of ''Xèn ...

and

Ramón Pérez de Ayala Ramón Pérez de Ayala y Fernández del Portal (9 August 1880, in Oviedo – 5 August 1962, in Madrid) was a Spanish writer. He was the Spanish ambassador to England in London (1931-1936) and voluntarily exiled himself to Argentina via F ...

. Contributors closely linked to the institution included

Demófilo Antonio Machado Álvarez, better known by his pseudonym Demófilo (Santiago de Compostela, 1848 – Seville, 4 February 1893), was a writer, anthropologist, and Spanish folklorist. He was the son of the noted Spanish folklorist, Cipriana Álva ...

and children

and Manuel Machado, Julio Rey Pastor, Constancio Bernaldo de Quirós, Luis Simarro, Nicholas Achúcarro, Francisco Barnes Salinas and Portuguese Alice Pestana. The ILE began to critically investigate the Spanish past, and from it emerged the ''Center for Historical Studies'' led by the founder of the Spanish philological school,

. The ILE also created contact centers for artistic and scientific elites with the European avant-garde movement, notably the

Residencia de estudiantes The Residencia de Estudiantes, literally the "Student Residence", is a centre of Spanish cultural life in Madrid. The Residence was founded to provide accommodation for students along the lines of classic colleges at Bologna, Salamanca, Cambridge ...

led by Alberto Jiménez Fraud and the ''Junta para la Ampliación de Estudios'' (Board for Advanced Studies and Scientific Research), organized by José Castillejo. The poetical movement the

Generation of '27 The Generation of '27 ( es, Generación del 27) was an influential group of poets that arose in Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. ...

was, in a way, an emanation of the ILE intended to attain Spanish cultural and scientific harmony with Europe shortly before modernization was halted by the Spanish Civil War, after which all progressive educational assets were confiscated and its proponents forced into exile by

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spani ...

. Those who remained faced censorship, persecution and ridicule, as it was considered unpatriotic by their detractors. Abroad, exiles dispersed throughout Europe and Latin America, moving to different countries and thus cross-fertilizing the cultural and progressive ideas throughout the Western world. Following the

Spanish transition to democracy Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries ** Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

in 1978, when the legal process of recovering the legacy of the institution began, ILE funds have been managed by the ''Fundación Francisco Giner de los Ríos'' created for that purpose.

Associated people

First phase

The early members of the ILE were mainly men who gathered around Giner after his return to the university in 1881 following his 1875 expulsion. They included Manuel Bartolomé Cossío, Joaquín Costa, Leopoldo Alas (Clarín), Alfredo Calderon, Eduardo Soler, Messia Jacinto Adolfo Posada, Pedro Dorado Montero, Aniceto Sela and Rafael Altamira.

Second phase

Giner called the acolytes of the ILE his "children". These included Julian Besteiro, Pedro Corominas, José Manuel Pedregal, Martin Navarro Flores, Constancio Bernaldo Quiros, Manuel and

, Domingo Barnés, José Castillejo, Gonzalo Jimenez de la Espada, Luis de Zulueta and Fernando de los Rios.

Third phase

Those born between 1880 and 1890, are recognized as the "grandchildren" of Giner; noted pupils included José Pijoán,

, Francisco Ribera Pastor,

Américo Castro Américo Castro y Quesada (May 4, 1885 – July 25, 1972) was a Spanish cultural historian, philologist, and literary critic who challenged some of the prevailing notions of Spanish identity, raising controversy with his conclusions that Spaniards ...

Manuel García Morente,

Lorenzo Luzuriaga Lorenzo Luzuriaga (1889–1959) was a Spanish educationalist. While in exile in Argentina following the Spanish Civil War, Luzuriaga translated several works by John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American phi ...

, Paul Azcarate and Alberto Jiménez Fraud.

Headquarters

The 200 founding shareholders abandoned the first proposed ILE headquarters in the

Paseo de la Castellana Paseo de la Castellana, commonly known as La Castellana, is a major thoroughfare in Madrid, Spain. Cutting across the city from South to North, it has been described as the "true structuring axis" of the city. History and description The street ...

, since occupied by the Military School, and instead rented an apartment in Calle Esparteros No. 9, (currently renumbered as No. 11), and subsequently relocated to Infantas No. 42 before moving again to Paseo del Oblisco No. 8 (since 1914 known as Paseo del General Martínez Campos No. 14 and No. 16). The building block included a garden, in what was then the outskirts of Madrid, and was better suited to the educational concept of the institution. In 1908 the site was further developed with the construction of the "Pavilion Giner" and "Soler Hall." During the Spanish Civil War the building was heavily damaged and looted, and even underwent a symbolic destruction of trees by a group of Falangists (only a century-old acacia and privet were saved). In 1940 the site was seized and attached to the Ministry of Education, refitted (1942) and reopened (1945) as School Group Joaquin Sorolla (close to the present

Sorolla Museum The Museum Sorolla (Spanish: ''Museo Sorolla'') is a public museum located in Madrid, Spain. It features work by the artist Joaquín Sorolla, as well as by members of his family such as his daughter Elena. The building was originally the artist ...

). After 1955 its premises were used as headquarters of the School Food Service. After the Transition, the facility was briefly opened as the Eduardo Marquina National College (1980–1985); but was finally allocated to the Free Institution of Education in 1982. Recent renovations have provided the ILE with state-of-the-art buildings.

Influences

The influence of the ILE was instrumental in getting the transitional Spanish government to undertake a series of legal, educational and social reforms. Agencies such as the National Pedagogical Museum and the Board for Advanced Scientific Studies and Research were created to send students to study on scholarship abroad. The Center for Historical Studies, together with the National Institute of Physics and Natural Science and the ''

Residencia de Estudiantes The Residencia de Estudiantes, literally the "Student Residence", is a centre of Spanish cultural life in Madrid. The Residence was founded to provide accommodation for students along the lines of classic colleges at Bologna, Salamanca, Cambridge ...

'', established in Calle Pinar, Madrid, became hotbeds of writers and artists in which

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

gave lectures in Spain in 1923. Attempts at educational reform crystallized between 1907 and 1936 via pioneering initiatives such as the School Institute, school holiday camps, the International Summer School at the

University of Santander The University of Santander (UDES) is a private research university, approved by the Colombian government through the Ministry of Education, according to legal status 810 1996; organized under the provisions of Act 30 of 1992. This university has ...

and various projects during the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...

that disseminated education and culture in remote settlements throughout Spain. About a year after his death in 1915, followers of Francisco Giner de los Ríos established a foundation bearing his name to ensure the continuity of the ILE and pursue its educational objectives. The Foundation published the ''Complete Works'' of Francisco Giner between 1916 and 1936. There are still schools that are linked to the current Foundation Giner de los Ríos, and continue to provide, with certain variations, the educational model of the ILE like the Colegio Estudio, founded in 1940 by Jimena Menéndez Pidal, Angels Gasset and Carmen Garcia del Diestro, which educated Spanish intellectuals and politicians. Later similar private institutions emerged, like Colegio Base and Colegio Estilo, founded in 1959 by Spanish writer Josefina Aldecoa.

Fingoy projects

One of the more curious effects of the ILE is the College Fingoy in the city of

Lugo Lugo (, ; la, Lucus Augusti) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous community of Galicia. It is the capital of the province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 98,025 in 2018, making it the fourth most populous city in Ga ...

, which was founded in the teeth of Falangist opposition in 1950 by Antonio Fernández López, a businessman and philanthropist of

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

, with the intention to develop the ideas of the ILE in Franco's Spain. Fernández López had experienced the Residencia de estudantes sponsored by The Board of Advanced Studies in Madrid during the 1920s and 1930s. Returning to his native Galicia, he decided to promote a study center with the same principles in Lugo for the education of his 12 children and his siblings Manuel and Conchita. College Fingoy was only the second mixed (boys and girls) school to be opened in Franco's Spain and the agriculture classes, theater, music and dance were held in the Galician language. During the early years it was led by

Ricardo Carballo Calero Ricardo Carballo Calero ( Ferrol, 1910 – Santiago de Compostela, 1990), self-styled as Ricardo Carvalho Calero from 1981 onward, was a Spanish philologist, academic and writer. He was the first Professor of Galician Language and Literature at ...

, a university professor and Galician intellectual who was victimized by the Franco regime. College Fingoy also featured class intellectuals and Galician artists such as the poet Xosé Luís Méndez Ferrín, former President of the

Royal Galician Academy The Royal Galician Academy ( gl, Real Academia Galega, RAG) is an institution dedicated to the study of Galician culture and especially the Galician language; it promulgates norms of grammar, spelling, and vocabulary and works to promote the la ...

, Bernardino Grana and painter Pacios. Fernández López also created the Center for Studies and the Barreiros Farm, governed by the same ILE principles.

References

External links

La Institución Libre de Enseñanza

Fundación Francisco Giner de los Ríos

Archivo virtual de la Edad de Plata (1868–1936)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Institucion Libre De Ensenanza Politics of Spain Educational organisations based in Spain Alternative education Philosophy of education