Educational policies and historical memory in the Spanish school: Forgetting the repression and resistance in the Franco regime

Abstract

The purpose of this research has been to investigate the knowledge and understanding of young people, who have recently completed their secondary education, about the subject of the Francoist repression and the struggle against Franco. The research was carried out using mixed methodology, triangulating qualitative instruments (discussion groups) and quantitative instruments (questionnaires) applied to a sample of convenience and intentionality. Twenty-two students participated in five discussion groups, and the questionnaires were drawn up from the categories emerging from the discussion groups and from some aspects of the most recent CIS survey enquiring about historical memory. These were submitted to 368 young people, after their prior evaluation using the Delphi expert opinion technique. The results show that these topics are not always addressed or they are treated superficially. If they are addressed, they tend to be presented from a supposedly “neutral and sanitized” perspective, while actually deliberately silencing and concealing key elements. In conclusion, therefore, as most of the students surveyed have stated, it is necessary to recover historical memory as the basis on which to construct democratic citizenship, since such a recovery affirms the quality of our democracy. Without knowledge, there is no historical memory, and truth, justice or reparation is not possible.