History

When the Spanish Pedagogical Society and its journal Bordón were created in 1949, the social, cultural, and education scene in Spain was trying to rebuild itself in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The hierarchy of values, conceptions, ideas and forms of approaching problems that existed before the war had lost much of their validity. This situation was particularly noticeable in the field of education, both in its conception and grand purposes as well as in the political guidelines for setting its direction, development, reorganization, and ideological control.

Naturally, in this context, pedagogy as a type of knowledge with a vocation for leading educational praxis was to be no exception. The pedagogy prevalent in Spain in the first third of the 20th century would soon be replaced by one more current with post-war values.

In this process of substitution, the recently founded Spanish Pedagogical Society and the journal Bordón played a relevant role in how the new pedagogical orientation was introduced and developed. One of its chief components was the adoption of the empirical method of research in the field of education.

Below is a brief chronology that covers the Spanish Pedagogical Society´s main achievements from its creation in 1949 up until 2019:

1949

The Sociedad Española de Pedagogía (Spanish Pedagogical Society, SEP) is founded within the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the seedbed for experimental research in pedagogy.

The first International Pedagogy Conference is held in Santander and San Sebastián from July 19-26 to commemorate the third centennial of the death of the founder of the “Pious Schools,” St. Joseph Calasanctius.

Present at the event are some of the most relevant foreign scholars, renowned for their contributions to experimental pedagogy, including Prof. Raymond Buyse and James A. Van del Veldt from the University of Lovain (Belgium), Arvil S. Barr from the University of Wisconsin (USA), Mario Casotti from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan (Italy), and Emile Planchard from the University of Coimbra (Portugal).

Publication of the journal Bordón begins, fostering the ongoing development and strengthening of experimental pedagogical studies that continues through to the present.

Víctor García Hoz himself (1946 and 1948; 1953, 1976) published articles such as “Quantitative evolution of vocabulary in school children aged nine to eighteen,” which set the start of a fertile line of research in the context of his work, and “Experimental study of the teacher’s function”, which introduced an empirical perspective on how to study teachers in the classroom in Spain.

2000

The journal Bordón changes its name to Bordón. Journal of Pedagogy, and a section called “Experiences” is added so that professionals in education can share their experiences. A Scientific Committee made up of experts from universities across the country and representing all areas of pedagogical knowledge is created to oversee the journal.

2007

The yearly bibliographic issue, which had been published at the end of each year since the journal was created in 1949 was eliminated, since widespread use of new technologies now makes its original purpose unnecessary.

Key words from the Thesaurus of European Education (www.eurydice.org/portal/page/portal/Eurydice/TEE) and the Thesaurus at ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center (www.eric.ed.gov) are incorporated into the abstracts and descriptors of published articles.

Bordón makes its bid to become an international journal by accessing the principal databases and seeking the greatest number of search hits, beginning with LATINDEX.

2010

Starting in 2010, with the aim of fostering the tradition of scientific collaboration on educational issues betwee Spain and Ibero-America, the Spanish National Pedagogical Congresses expand to become National and Ibero-American Pedagogical Congresses.

The site of these Congresses has been diverse, alternating between Spain and various Latin American countries: Toluca, Mexico (2010), Burgos, Spain (2012), Santiago de Chile, Chile (2014), Madrid, Spain (2016), Buenos Aires, Argentina (2018). For further information regarding the sites of the Congresses, please https://www.sepedagogia.es/?page_id=14&lang=en.

Bordón becomes consolidated as one of the most prestigious scientific journals in Spain, competing at an International level, especially since its participation in two of the most important International data bases – Scopus and the Web of Science (ESCI). In addition, Bordón obtains the prestigious Seal of Quality from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología, FECYT).

2016 up to the Present

The Spanish Pedagogical Society invites educational associations, scientific societies, and research groups in Spain to collaborate in the organization of the XVI National Congress and VII Ibero-American Congress on Pedagogy, held in June 2016 at the Complutense University. The themes of the 2016 Congress become articulated around the scientific collaboration of more than ten associations.

As a result of the positive experience of this collaboration, the Society´s Congresses become networked congresses. On June 29th, RETINDE, a Transdiciplinary Network of Educational Research (Red Transdisciplinar de Investigación Educativa), is created as a network of educational associations, scientific societies and research groups.

To learn about the activities of the Spanish Pedagogical Society since 2016, we suggest you consult the Bordón journal at www.sepedagogia.es/?page_id=214&lang=en and the section on Congresses and Other Events at https://www.sepedagogia.es/?page_id=14.