Colectivos, centros e iniciativas de renovación pedagógica actuales en España. Señas de identidad e ideario pedagógico

The history of European educational renewal is characterized by the constant influx of new teaching practices that modify the institutional models, revealing that an alternative approach can reinterpret education and the purpose of the school as an educational institution. Currently, in Spain, various attempts are being made to renew classroom practice. These have rekindled the flames of the Movimientos de Renovacion Pedagogica ('Movements for Educational Renewal', MRP) which gathered momentum at the end of the Franco regime. This paper provides a four-part review of the collectives, centers and initiatives that have pioneered educational renewal in recent years: first, it briefly recalls and clarifies the concept of the alternative school; second, it examines the basic theory underlying the MRP and describes, in chronological order, the most important collectives that emerged from these; third, it considers five emblematic schools, most of them in the region of Spain known as the Community of Madrid; and finally, it draws conclusions. The paper is the result of research on important contributions to the literature, interviews with specialists in educational renewal and visits to centers conducting projects. The researchers also examined the documents written during the creation and development of the projects studied (mainly educational projects in the school centers and web pages of reference).