The UVic-UCC will make Maria Teresa Codina, a cornerstone of the Catalan educational renewal movement, Doctor Honoris Causa

The University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia will award a Doctorate Honoris Causa to the teacher Maria Teresa Codina i Mir, at the proposal of the Faculty of Education, Translation and Human Sciences, on the fortieth anniversary of its foundation. Ms Codina, who is ninety-one years old, will be sponsored by the dean of the Faculty, Eduard Ramírez, and by the lecturer and ex-dean Joan Soler, who will deliver the Laudatio, in an investiture ceremony which will take place in the Aula Magna of the UVic at 6 pm on Tuesday 5 June.

Maria Teresa Codina is considered one of the major cornerstones of the educational renewal movement in Catalonia, and played a key role in education in the twentieth century, when she and the generation of teachers to which she belongs were the driving force behind the wave of educational renewal in Catalonia. This renewal was inspired by the principles of active education in the early twentieth century, and exerted a major influence during Spain's transition to democracy and the early years of democracy after the Franco dictatorship.

This will be the first Doctorate Honoris Causa  that Maria Teresa Codina has received. She was born in Barcelona in 1927, qualified as a primary schoolteacher, and graduated in Philosophy and Arts, in the specialist field of classical philology. Later, in France, she studied at the Centre d’Études Pédagogiques, where she met the pedagogue Pierre Faure.

From the Talitha school to Can Tunis, by way of teacher training

She founded the Talitha school in Barcelona in 1956. This was a significant milestone in the educational renewal movement which at the height of the Franco dictatorship, aimed to restore the Catalan pedagogical tradition dating from prior to 1939, and to rebuild democracy in Catalonia. The school consolidated a robust educational approach based on teamwork, teaching of the Catalan language, relationships with its environment, comprehensive training, democratic and participatory management and relationships with families. Renowned teachers in Catalonia such as Maria Antònia Canals, Marta Mata, Pilar Benejam - a member of the UVic-UCC's Consultative Council, Anna Maria Roig, and Maria Teresa Fort came together under her pedagogical leadership.

In 1965, she was part of the group of seven people led by Marta Mata who founded the Rosa Sensat College of Teachers, which is today an association, and which was been a factor in the promotion of continuous training for teachers involving courses and seminars and above all, summer schools. The College of Teachers was a link between this wave of renewal in the second half of the century and the pedagogical climate of the Second Republic.

Maria Teresa Codina's other great achievement was her involvement in the fight for the right to education and equal opportunities. In 1978, with Basilio Gonzàlez, she established the Avillar Chavorrós school in the neighbourhood of Can Tunis, followed by the Xavó-Xaví adapted secondary school in 1988. These two projects were a model for education in a difficult environment like Can Tunis - a marginal neighbourhood with a mostly gypsy population, to address the challenge of equal opportunities for children and adolescents.

Having completed these projects, Codina was commissioned to run special action programmes, compensatory education initiatives and diversity education projects in the Catalan Ministry of Education from 1983 to 1987, and then with Barcelona City Council until she retired in 1992.

References, publications and prizes

When establishing her ideas on education and didactics, and about the importance of continuous training so that teachers can adapt to their social context, Maria Teresa Codina has been inspired by great contemporary pedagogues ranging from Piaget, Cousinet, Makarenko, Freinet, Montessori and Dewey who with other Catalan pedagogues such as Alexandre Galí and Artur Martorell have always been her benchmarks.

Her publications include Educar en temps difícils. Talitha, 1956-1074  [Education in difficult times. Talitha, 1956-1074] (Eumo Editorial, 2008); the anthology La renovació pedagògica a Catalunya des de dins (1940-1980) [Pedagogical renewal in Catalonia from within (1940-1980)] (Rosa Sensat/Edicions 62, 2001); Gitanos de Can Tunis 1977-1983: Crónica de un proceso educativo [Gypsies of Can Tunis 1977-1983: Chronicle of an educational process] (Mediterrània, 2000), and El adolescente marginal: Escuela y trabajo [The marginal adolescent: School and work] (Rosa Sensat, 2001).

She was awarded the Ramon Llull prize for pedagogical experiences (1979), the Ramon Fuster Prize for her professional career (1995), the Hidalgo Presencia Gitana Prize (1983) and the I Catalan Education Prize (2001).