History and Microhistories of Social Education in Spain

Social education in Spain has become increasingly popular in recent decades as both a socio-educational action/intervention and as a profession. The history of social education is a combination of various microhistories that have evolved within different areas. In order to understand the “micro” component of these histories, we need a perspective of the “macro,” while also keeping in mind that the microhistories are essential to understanding the true development of social education on a general level. The goals of this research are: to approximate the key historical antecedents that have influenced the development of social education in Spain as both a socio-educational action/intervention and a profession, to demonstrate the importance of analyzing the history of social education through microhistories, and to indicate the key elements and criteria necessary to carry out our microhistory of social education. Our methodology is the state of the field documentary research modality, which facilitated our study of the collective knowledge addressing a pedagogy of social education. This qualitative-documentary and critical-interpretive methodology followed these steps: contextualization, classification, and categorization. The main conclusion will indicate the definition of key points as well as the criteria necessary to be able to carry out a microhistory of social education.