Editing Spanish Revolution of 1936 (section)

=== The revolution in education ===
{{See also|New Unified School Council|Anarchism and education}}

Within the educational field there were also important experiments, although, as will be seen, these experiences had great drawbacks preventing carrying out more intense work. One of the most significant changes was due to the fact that education went from being a defensive and destructive field of capitalism to being understood as a fundamental pillar of the construction of the new revolutionary society.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|p=156}}

==== Primary and secondary education ====
The [[New Unified School Council]] (UNSC), created in Catalonia on 27 July 1936, was entrusted with the task of restructuring the educational system in Catalonia. This organization could be understood as a model of public management of education: free, co-educational, secular, use of the vernacular, and unification of the different educational levels.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|pp=183–184}} However, the CENU created a Regional Federation of Rationalist Schools that was outside the UNSC system.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|pp=191, 202}}

In rural areas, the collectivist movement was forced to intervene more directly than in the cities.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|p=161}} Either because there were no educational structures before or because there was greater autonomy, in many rural municipalities the community faced local, professional, or municipal expenses.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|pp=195, 204}} It was also important obey the statutes of some communities that prohibited child labor.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|p=161}}

==== Vocational and technical training ====
Within the field of vocational and technical training, various initiatives were developed. In the industrial field, these were largely the result of the unions, which, knowing that they were lacking in technicians and distrusting them, tried to train members of their organizations. Among these initiatives were numerous schools of particular trades: railways, optics, transporters, metallurgists, and departments dedicated to professional training.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|pp=234–240}}

In the agricultural field, federations of trade unions carried out this type of initiative, among which we can find the school of secretaries of Levante, the agricultural university of Moncada, the regional institute of agriculture and livestock, and the school of militants of Monzón.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|pp=242–256}}

==== Non-Formal and Cultural Education ====
For informal education there were the libertarian athenaeums, or popular social centers in which different informative, cultural, or work tasks were developed. The athenaeums had a very strong tradition where anarchism was strong. However, in the war they even expanded into areas with few CNT roots. In some cases, such as Madrid, these athenaeums came to create schools, have health insurance, and promote other types of services.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|pp=267–271}}

Various communities also carried out other initiatives, such as the creation of libraries, artistic activities, a cinema forum,{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|p=190}} theater groups, athenaeums,{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|pp=200–201}} the foundation of its own academies,{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|p=205}} or nursery schools.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|p=211}}

==== Problems faced ====
The problems that had to be faced had two different roots: on the one hand, there were the problems typical of a war, to which others that had been dragging down the educational sphere can be added, and on the other, those typical of the rationalist school movement.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|p=159}}

* In the first place, it is necessary to point out the poor school attendance in Spain.{{Refn|group=lower-alpha|The enrollment rate was around 50%, of which only 70% of those enrolled attended class regularly.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|p=160}}}} This problem was exacerbated in rural areas, where a large number of municipalities lacked schools or were in a very precarious situation, with many communities still trying to eradicate child labor.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|pp=160–161}}
* In a sense similar to the previous point, one of the problems suffered at a general level, and in the rationalist school, in particular was the lack of trained teachers. This problem, which is inseparable from the structural lack of education, was aggravated in rural areas when it coincided with the summer vacation period.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|p=162}} The lack of trained teachers was especially incidental in the libertarian sphere, since most of the people who were in charge of the rationalist schools were militants.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|pp=163–165}}
* One of the problems that was tried to solve was the lack of coordination between rationalist centers. In most cases, this coordination occurred informally, on the basis of affinity and proximity. The most interesting response in this regard was the Regional Federation of Rationalist Schools of Catalonia, which planned the creation of an editorial and a Rationalist Norm. However, the federation did not have a remarkable evolution.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|pp=166–167}}
* And finally, the scarcity of economic and material resources must be pointed out due to the need to maintain a war economy and the economic downturn to which the collectivist movement was subjected. This lack of resources was a fundamental element in understanding the lack of reorganization of the educational structure, with problems such as the lack of endowments, which was sometimes made up with the repurposing of other buildings.{{sfn|Tiana Ferrer|1987|pp=168–171}}