Working on democratic memory through Spanish history textbooks: how far do they contribute to developing competences for a democratic culture?

History education from dictatorship to democracy: the emergence of conflicting historical cultures

Historical culture refers to the way people deal with or relate to their past (Rüsen, 1994) and comprises the shared attitudes, values and perceptions of past events in a specific community or group of people (Grever and Adriaansen, 2017). Schools, and more specifically history education, play a crucial role when it comes to articulating and organising people’s relationship to a common past (Grever, 2009). According to Ribbens (2007), history teaching is the medium through which young people encounter structured historical narratives, introducing them to a standardised version of the collective experiences of previous generations.

A similar idea was probably in the minds of Francoist authorities when a law to regulate education in the ‘New State’ was passed in September 1938, in the middle of an ongoing civil war. This law stated that memorisation should be replaced by a ‘continued and progressive action on the student’s mentality’ so that they would assimilate the basic elements of their culture and that this would influence the formation of their personalities. It conferred a fundamental role on history teaching as a promoter of a Catholic, classical and humanistic education that stressed Spain’s ‘authentic essence’. Consequently, Franco’s administration established a committee to approve the new textbooks and ensure that they contributed to transforming pupils’ attitudes according to the ideals of the ‘New State’.

An analysis of history textbooks written and approved under the Franco regime shows the absence of any reference to the term ‘democracy’, and whenever political parties and the Republic were mentioned, they appear connected to the negative effects of disorder and conflict on the population. The Franco regime was presented as a period of order and progress against the chaos and ruin brought about by the Second Republic. Moreover, a narrative of foreign threats was used to highlight Spanish patriotism: the ‘new Spain’ was shaped by those sectors of society loyal to General Franco after liberating the country from foreign and anti-Spanish communist influence. For many decades during the Franco dictatorship, history teaching in Spain served to foster and legitimise non-democratic regimes (Boyd, 2006; Pérez Garzón, 2000). There was a lack of teaching about democracy, with democratic periods characterised as times of social struggle, violence and the failure of political parties. Activities in defence of democracy and social and political rights were silenced, as were the histories of those who died defending democracy and people’s rights. An official narrative about the past which contributed to creating a historical culture that normalised the absence of democracy was disseminated by official institutions. With time, references to the civil conflict lost prominence in favour of a narrative that tried to promote consensus and social cohesion and legitimise the Franco regime through its economic and social achievements, especially when the campaign celebrating ‘25 years of peace’ was launched in 1964.

Once the transition to democracy began with Franco’s death in 1975, the main narrative was not immediately challenged. References to the most recent periods were scarce and only slowly did schoolbooks begin to include information about the Republic and the Civil War that differed from previous versions. For a long time silence was maintained and history lessons did not deal with the most recent and controversial periods of history; when they finally did, the narrative of consensus and agreement reached during the process of transition to democracy predominated, partly based on ignoring the terrible consequences of the war for those on the losing side.

It was not until the movement for the recovery of historical memory that emerged c. 2000 that this narrative was challenged. The absence and silence of those victims of the Civil War who belonged to the losing side was long-lasting. However, voices calling for the recovery of a democratic memory of those who fought for democracy, as well as for a more pluralistic memory to include different views and experiences based on reliable historical knowledge and respect for human rights, rose in the early 2000s. As historian Carme Molinero (2006) affirmed, there was a need to construct a more democratic memory, based on a precise and objective knowledge of the past. This needed to be aimed at the defence of democratic values and awareness of the struggle for freedom and human rights of the past (Molinero, 2006). Although this movement initially referred to the recovery of memory, its contribution to a better knowledge of recent Spanish history has been significant. The approved 2022 Law of Democratic Memory is a consequence of this process, which, apart from promoting a renewed historical culture among wide sectors of Spanish society, has also given rise to the need to review the teaching of history about Spain’s recent past. This enables initiatives to include hitherto forgotten events and silenced protagonists in history lessons. This change opened the possibility to rescue from ‘a deliberate oblivion’ events, protagonists and processes that had hitherto lacked a place in curricular materials (Prats, 2021; Prats and Santacana, 2011). According to Wojdon (2014), in countries that have transitioned from dictatorship to democracy there is an evident change in history teaching from univocal narratives that students memorise uncritically, to teaching history based on enquiry methods and on the inclusion of multiple sources and perspectives, as well as the awareness that history is a reconstruction of the past. Our aim here is to detect what kind of strategies and didactic approaches are proposed in textbooks to support this aim.

Almost 90 years after the 1938 Education Law, the new history curriculum under the Spanish education law LOMLOE (29 December 2020) connects the study of history to citizenship competence, which contributes to the development of political culture, critical thinking and active citizen participation. In a clear reference to the Law of Democratic Memory, one of the specific competences stresses the importance of knowing and understanding the process of democratisation and valuing the contribution of all those who were committed to it. This underlines the need to promote democratic memory and value human rights, peaceful management of conflict and democratic coexistence (Specific Competence 5 of the secondary education subject Geography and History, Spanish curriculum 2020). By merely considering this new curricular demand, we can see that history education in Spain has advanced considerably towards reinforcing the ideas of democracy and promoting the democratic culture of students; there is a clear effort to include democratic values and the increasing presence of competences based on historical thinking links history education to democratic consciousness (Moreno-Vera, 2025).

History education has changed considerably since the end of the Franco dictatorship. Although some transformations had already begun before the end of the dictatorship, the change of political regime meant modifications to educational legislation, with the system progressively updated to adapt to the new context of modernisation, democratisation and integration into the European community. Even if general thematic contents have not changed substantially, the didactic approach of history education in Spain has evolved, although with some delay compared with the transformations seen in Western Europe and North America in the 1960s and 1970s (Merchán Iglesias, 2011). From teaching based on a transmission method that aimed at promoting students’ identification with national history, history education has evolved towards a discipline based on a civic approach where historical thinking skills are increasingly taught (Carretero et al., 2012). However, Gómez Carrasco and Rodríguez Pérez (2017) state that the new trends in history education do not seem to have had a significant impact on the way history is taught and learnt in Spanish schools. Learners have gone from memorising political content and data to memorising historical interpretations, suggesting that rote learning is still widespread and school history does not seem to foster autonomous thinking among students. This again justifies our focus on the most recent textbooks adapted to the new legislation that introduces a competence-based curriculum.

These ideas and experiences are shared by other countries that have had to deal with difficult and controversial pasts; however, the term ‘democratic memory’ is used almost exclusively in the Spanish context. It refers to the need to promote politics of memory that seek to achieve greater democratic quality; as it is used in Spain, the term stresses the need to deal with the past based on the principles of justice, reparation and non-repetition (Gomez Isa, 2006). The use of this term responds to the long-claimed need to deal with the recent Spanish past expressed by sectors of civil society trying to give visibility and prominence to the history of those who fought to defend democracy and who were silenced and forgotten during the Franco regime. But this demand has raised controversy as it has clashed with the views about history of Spanish conservatives who reject ‘opening old wounds’.

This debate has reached history education, where the term ‘democratic memory’ can be approached in two ways: (a) historical knowledge of the democratic process, represented by a narrative of democratisation of the country such as the one described in the textbooks; and (b) a reconstruction of the past involving different voices, which aims to teach students to think historically and to become aware of the process by which multi-perspective narratives that reconstruct the past are built. In other words, democratic memory may refer to the teaching of the main milestones and protagonists of the democratising process, thereby increasing knowledge of the historical process of establishing democracy in Spain; but it also refers to the way in which history is taught, whether learners use the opportunities it offers to work on democratic procedures and acquire the corresponding attitudes and values, not just conceptual knowledge.

So far, we have seen how the events of the twentieth century have produced different, and often conflicting, historical cultures in Spanish society, and how history teaching has evolved accordingly. In this context, textbooks have played a fundamental role as a means through which a certain interpretation or narrative about the past gains meaning, contributing to building and presenting the historical narratives that make the past meaningful for learners.

The contribution of controversial issues when teaching about democracy

Democratic memory, insofar as it provokes debate with regard to different ways of relating to Spain’s recent past, is inevitably a controversial issue. It is a sensitive topic that arouses conflicting opinions and generates confrontation in Spanish society (López Facal and Santidrián, 2011), with issues extending to the fields of justice, legislative debates and controversies among political movements (Delgado, 2022).

However, approaching the history of democratisation in Spain from the perspective of democratic memory not only contributes to students learning of the main events and protagonists that led this process, but also, as a controversial issue, offers the opportunity to develop students’ citizenship competence (Alvén, 2024; Gómez Carrasco et al., 2023; López Facal and Santidrián, 2011; Moreno-Vera, 2018; Santisteban, 2019). Teachers should teach their students to deal with conflict and should understand controversial issues as opportunities to educate them about democratic procedures, attitudes and values, thus promoting a democratic culture. Dealing with controversy contributes to understanding and accepting views and positions different from our own, assuming that there are diverse and even opposing interests and points of view; this fosters critical thinking and the construction of reasoned opinions and judgements (Santisteban, 2019). A democratic society tends to be characterised by its attempts to solve existing conflicts by peaceful means, trying to reach agreement between opposing sides. Rather than avoiding conflict, students should take advantage of controversy to learn to discuss and debate, respecting differences using arguments based on informed opinions (López Facal and Santidrián, 2011). Ahonen (2017) proposes deliberation as a historical-didactic concept and suggests exchanging different views and arguments in the history classroom, so that it becomes an arena for dialogue between narratives. This would lead to a more plural and inclusive interpretation of the past, acknowledging the unfairness of narratives constructed during the Franco period and promoting more plural interpretations of the past, as the 2022 Law of Democratic Memory suggests.

Miralles and Ibagón (2022) highlight the correlation between dealing with controversial issues in the classroom and developing historical thinking skills, which allow for a better understanding of past and present societies, thus contributing to the formation of a critical and democratic citizenship. Activities related to the work on democratic memory, due both to the topic they deal with as well as their controversial character, are good opportunities to work on competences for a democratic culture, such as knowledge and critical understanding of history, critical thinking and empathy skills; they also help to value democracy, justice and human rights (Council of Europe, 2018). Despite these advantages, until quite recently controversial issues have had a limited presence in the Spanish history curriculum and both textbook publishers and teachers have shown reticence in dealing with them (Gómez Carrasco et al., 2022; Martínez Rodríguez et al., 2022). The analysis presented in the next sections aims to shed light on the progress made by the most recent history textbooks and the extent to which activities proposed in them support teachers and students in their work on historical thinking skills and citizenship competences.

History education and the work on democratic memory in current Spanish history textbooks

Analysis and results

Structure and arrangement of information 

In the case discussed here, most textbooks follow a similar pattern when it comes to the arrangement of chapters: books have a chronological structure and chapters on Spain usually follow those on European and world history, so that Spanish history seems to present a separate path of development. There is little connection between Spanish history and its international context, as if Spain’s evolution followed a separate path from main international events. Of the five textbooks analysed, in only one case (T3) the content on Spanish history is integrated within chapters dealing with broader thematic and geographic perspectives. This is a significant feature that weakens learners’ awareness of the connections between Spanish history and European and world history: the crises of democracy in the 1930s and their connection to the unstable political context of the Second Spanish Republic, the attitudes of European countries towards the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the participation of Spaniards in the Second World War and the consequences that many of them suffered – or the fact that Spain remained a dictatorship in the Western bloc in the context of the Cold War – are not really discussed in these books. Although not directly expressed, there is a perception of discontinuity between Spanish history and its international context that may help to reinforce the idea of the specificity of national narratives.

Moreover, a look at the space devoted to the different historical periods shows that there are slight differences regarding the number of pages dedicated to democratic and non-democratic periods in Spanish history. While in some textbooks the percentages are close to 50 for each (T3), in others there are significant variations (T1, T4 and T5 devote notably more pages to democracy than T2). Among the textbooks that dedicate more pages to democratic periods we find those that focus more on the period of transition and the establishment of current democracy in Spain (see Figure 1).

Figure 1

Proportion of pages devoted to democratic and dictatorial periods 

However, the number of pages dedicated to the above-mentioned periods does not say a great deal about how these periods are explained in those pages and the kind of activities proposed to work on each of them. We therefore suggest having a closer look at the activities proposed for each period in the textbooks analysed. It should be clarified that the years of civil war have not been included in this study. Even though the war is directly connected to democratic memory, after looking into the activities proposed we considered that it was difficult to analyse the understanding of democracy in them, and only those activities dealing with consequences of the war that could be directly connected to repression under dictatorship have been taken into account in this article.

Activities proposed to work on democracy and democratic memory 

The most frequent type of activities suggested by textbooks continue to be factual questions, where students need to identify information in the texts, images or graphs presented in the books (18%). According to the classification we have followed here, these activities do not require a high cognitive level, students are supposed to retrieve and repeat information, and activities seem to have the function of drawing the attention of students to specific content within the textbooks.

The other activities require higher cognitive levels and represent a broader diversity of procedures, which means that textbooks have moved beyond mere rote learning and propose activities that require learners to perform more demanding cognitive skills. Explaining and presenting information is the next most recurrent type of activity (15%), and it is more demanding since it requires analysing and evaluating information drawn from different resources – although in this case sources are usually included in the books – and involves the creation of new information. This type of activity is rather frequent in pages devoted to the Franco dictatorship – development of the regime, social control exerted by authorities and opposition movements.

Value, argue, express opinions is another relatively frequent type of activity (13.7%). Together with Debate (4.3%) and Use diverse sources and consider different perspectives (1.7%) it makes up almost 20% of all activities and is mostly used to work on the two democratic periods (see Table 1). These activities involve listening to others, considering different stances and building informed opinions, which is why they can be considered appropriate to train competences for a democratic culture. Debating activities and related procedures include questions on topics such as republican reforms, interpretations of the process of transition and threats to democracy, but they do not deal directly with the existing controversy concerning democratic memory.

Table 1

Types of activities, cognitive level required and frequency 

Type of activity	Cognitive level	Total amount	Percentage of total
Answer factual questions, identify and describe information	1	42	18
Explain, present information	3	35	15
Value, argue, express opinions	3	32	13.7
Search for information, investigate	3	20	8.5
Compare information, understand similarities and differences	2	19	8.1
Analyse	3	18	7.7
Reflect	3	16	6.8
Debate	3	10	4.3
Deduce, draw conclusions	3	10	4.3
Organise and classify information	2	8	3.4
Write a text, tell a story	3	7	3
Relate information	2	6	2.6
Use diverse sources and consider different perspectives	3	4	1.7
Define	2	4	1.7
Propose hypotheses and test them	3	1	0.4
Summarise	2	1	0.4
Empathise	3	1	0.4
TOTAL		234	100

The next most frequent group of activities are Searching for information, investigate (8.5%), Compare information, understand similarities and differences (8.1%), Analyse (7.7%) and Reflect (6.8%). The use of comparison in the textbooks is significant. Comparisons appear in all three periods studied, since it is a procedure often used to work on the characteristics of democratic and non-democratic legislation, marking the continuity between democratic periods and the break provoked by dictatorship. Apart from honing an understanding of continuity and change as a historical thinking concept, comparison is the didactic strategy used here to point out the differences between democratic and non-democratic regimes, thus reinforcing learners’ understanding of the main features of democracy.

Yet searching for information is much more frequent in the activities dealing with the Franco dictatorship – such as the situation of women, repression exerted by the regime – than in those dealing with democratic periods. Further research is often suggested when books offer insufficient information on a specific topic, leaving the teachers to choose. As for analysis and reflection, they are common procedures when dealing with the Franco dictatorship and the transition to democracy. Analyse activities tend to be focused on interpretation of the given information and sources; that is, students are required to analyse the information given and draw conclusions. In the case of Reflect, textbooks include questions where they ask students to reflect on given aspects of the periods they are learning about, but the outcome of such reflection – whether it is to understand the importance of the issue under consideration, to build their own opinion, to write a brief essay – can be unclear.

The rest of the procedures represented in this typology of activities are not so frequent. However, among them we find two interesting types of activities closely linked to skills that foster critical thinking and competences for a democratic culture: debate and working on sources that represent multiple perspectives. Textbooks include proposals to debate different topics connected to the situation of democracy in the different periods or the relevance of dealing with historical memory. But textbooks do not offer explanations or strategies to carry out debates; and even if we see that debates are very useful for dealing with controversial issues such as the ones discussed here, they require previous knowledge, training and confidence to practise different debate strategies. However, these kinds of procedures are not so frequent, and less so with issues that could raise controversy. Thus, teachers who do not feel confident dealing with controversial issues are unlikely to engage in them. As for multi-perspectivity (Use diverse sources and consider different perspectives), only a few activities (2%) explicitly ask students to work with sources representing different points of view. Including more activities dealing with diverse perspectives would be helpful to understand the complexity of these periods and the different positions that emerged in those years. Although the textbooks include primary sources with related questions, there is not enough emphasis on using primary sources and assessing their reliability.

One final aspect to highlight here is that the textbooks do not give guidance about how to carry out the different procedures they propose. This may be due to their having been designed for the final year of compulsory education, when learners are assumed to know them already. However, some of these activities involve complex procedures that would require at least some guidance for students to complete them successfully and to apply them to other contexts in the future.

Second Spanish Republic

Answer factual questions, identify information and describe is the most frequent type of activity regarding this period. However, viewed as a whole, activities that imply higher cognitive skills have more weight when focused on the republican period. Activities which require students to mobilise a variety of cognitive skills – such as valuing information, building arguments and expressing opinions, and debating, as well as those which require explanation, presentation or comparison of information – are relatively frequent.

Regarding the Second Spanish Republic, the first truly democratic period of twentieth-century Spain, all the textbooks analysed work on activities about the constitution approved in 1931 and include activities connected with the reforms carried out by the republican government in its first two years, the so-called ‘progressive biennium’. This is not surprising considering that both the constitution and the reforms formed the basis of the new democratic regime and usually receive most attention in teaching about this period. Moreover, according to the curriculum, constitutions represent the consolidation of the ideas and values that have shaped the current democratic system and imply the recognition of democratic memory (Specific Competence 5 of the secondary education subject Geography and History, Spanish curriculum 2020).

Comparison is a recurrent procedure when working on the 1931 constitution in textbooks. Some books suggest reading the articles and identifying the rights and freedoms included, so that students then answer questions that stress the progressive character of the constitution and its contribution to democracy compared to previous ones (T2, T4). Moreover, two of the textbooks include activities that suggest comparing the 1931 constitution to the current 1978 constitution, which again contributes to highlighting the continuities and democratic character of the two constitutions approved in the twentieth century (T2, T5).

Regarding the reforms, most books propose reflection and discussion on the meaning and relevance of these reforms (T1, T2, T3, T5). In general, the information included in the books points to the progressive character of the reforms and their contribution to a more egalitarian society, as exemplified by the education law approved in that period and mentioned in the activities of two of the textbooks analysed (T3 and T5).

In this regard, four of the books propose activities related to women’s rights and the achievement of women’s suffrage in 1931. The situation of women in society – their struggle for equality and an active role in the defence of democratic values and fundamental rights – is another important topic included in the curriculum, the Law of Democratic Memory and the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) that these textbooks promote. As for the kind of activities and procedures chosen to work on this theme, one of the textbooks requires students to research the situation of women in the 1930s in order to write an item of news for social media as the main challenge of the section dedicated to the Second Republic (T2). Two other textbooks suggest research about female suffrage, analysing arguments for and against, and then debating the topic (T3, T4); whereas another asks students to write a speech arguing for women’s suffrage (T5) (see Figure 2). It is not surprising that research, debate and arguing opinions are recurrent procedures when dealing with a topic which is still a relevant issue in today’s society and is often discussed in school.

Figure 2

Types of activities relating to the Second Spanish Republic (1931–6) 

To conclude, constitution, reforms and women’s rights are the main topics around which information, explanations and activities regarding democratic memory in this historical period are articulated. Understanding them enables students to comprehend the main issues debated during the republican years, regardless of the fact that these reforms were barely applied at that time. They are nevertheless considered significant milestones in the process of modernisation and democratisation of the country. Moreover, the types of activities and procedures chosen to work on these themes – debating and expressing opinions based on arguments, comparing legislation to highlight democratic advances – contribute to reinforcing the narrative of democratisation.

The Franco dictatorship

The distribution of the frequency of activities changes when compared with the other two periods studied. When working on the period of dictatorship, activities that require explaining and presenting information, followed by those that require answering factual questions, identifying or describing information, are the most frequent. These procedures appear in connection with a variety of themes, from the economic and social development of Spanish society in those years, to the repression and social control exerted by the regime, and opposition to dictatorship. It is significant that in this case activities that require valuing, expressing and arguing opinions, and even debating, are not as prominent as in the sections dealing with democratic periods. Suggesting that students search for information is also a frequent type of activity in this period, and comparison also recurs. Comparisons of legislation are here used to highlight the lack of democracy and the regression in rights and freedoms, and activities related to the situation of women under the Franco dictatorship are paradigmatic of these changes. The scarcity of debating activities identified in this section is noteworthy (see Figure 3).

Figure 3

Types of activities relating to the Franco dictatorship (1939–75) 

All textbooks deal to some extent with the political and ideological characteristics of the regime, as well as with the laws approved in that period. When it comes to politics, books tend to include activities to compare legislation during dictatorship and democracy, so that students reflect and become aware of the political shortfalls of dictatorship and the advantages of democratic regimes in terms of rights and freedoms. Comparisons deal with Fuero de los Españoles or Principios Fundamentales del Movimiento – legislation approved under the dictatorship – and the characteristics of constitutions, as well as the differences between the ideological basis of Franco’s regime and the principles that govern current democratic systems (T2, T4). These comparisons highlight differences between the Second Republic and Franco’s dictatorship (T5) or, more generally, between the characteristics of totalitarian regimes or dictatorships and democracies (T1, T5). Through these comparisons students work on historical thinking skills, such as understanding continuity and change, and become aware of the discontinuities produced by dictatorships within the process of democratisation. Furthermore, it becomes apparent that democracy is not something that can be taken for granted.

Another aspect on which all the textbooks insist is that the Franco regime evolved from the immediate postwar years until its end in the mid-1970s. Two aspects are mentioned in this evolution: the changes in international relations, and social and economic development. Although twentieth-century Spanish history is taught from a national perspective and has usually paid little attention to what was going on in Europe and the rest of the world at that time, references to isolation and autarchy during the first decade of dictatorship and the progressive opening after the agreements with the USA in the early 1950s appear in all textbooks. To work on this, most of the textbooks pose factual questions that can be answered with sources and information contained in their pages, followed by some reflection on the reasons for those changes (T1, T2, T4, T5). Only one textbook suggests that students give their own opinion about the reasons why Franco was not overthrown after the Second World War, bordering on the counterfactual when asking about the possible consequences of such a decision (T5). As for economic changes, many activities draw attention to the economic evolution of the regime and highlight the fact that Spanish society was not the same in the postwar period as in its most recent decades. Activities deal with comparing characteristics of different periods, drawing timelines and describing the evolution, thereby offering opportunities to work on continuity and change, and highlighting the economic and social modernisation of the country. The economic transformations of the 1960s – which were used by the dictatorship to present its achievements and offer a renewed legitimisation – are linked to the changes and openness in foreign policy and can be seen as fundamental factors which led to the transformations in social attitudes towards the dictatorship and the emergence of opposition. Although none of the textbooks deal explicitly with these interpretations, they all refer to these changes. The most frequently used procedures for this are those of explanation and comparison: from explaining the evolution of the Franco regime and the changes that happened during desarrollismo – economic and social development of the 1960s – (T1, T2), to comparing the economic measures and characteristics of the Franco regime during the postwar period and desarrollismo of the 1960s (T4, T5). Only one textbook asks two separate questions, without directly connecting the postwar years and desarrollismo (T3).

If, in the case of the republican period, women’s suffrage was highlighted as an advance towards gender equality, in the pages devoted to dictatorship four of the five textbooks analysed include references to the situation and role of women during this period and stress the regression in their rights. There is an awareness of the importance of gender equality in Spanish society, with books increasingly including information and activities to deal with it, following recommendations of the curriculum and the UN SDGs. Activities identified propose researching, describing and reflecting on the situation of women and the regression in their rights during the Franco regime (T2, T3, T4, T5); moreover, some of the books suggest comparing this situation to that of the present (T4) or arguing against a text describing the characteristics of the perfect wife during the dictatorship from the current perspective of gender equality (T5). Another activity stresses the active contribution of women to the struggle for democracy and suggests researching the role of women in the opposition movements of the 1960s (T2). Only one textbook asks students to debate whether the ideal of women promoted by the Franco regime led to a loss of rights compared to the Second Republic – but considering the information offered, there is little space for discussion (T4). Focusing on the regression of their rights during the period of dictatorship, as well as their active role in opposition movements, are ways of making learners aware of the lack of equality and rights suffered by half of the population during the dictatorship and at the same time highlights the transformations that have taken place since its disappearance.

All textbooks deal with the role of opposition to the dictatorship, especially during the last decades of the regime, which contributes to highlighting the role of the social and political movements that fought for democracy, and gives agency to people, suggesting that their values and attitudes may play a role in the struggle to achieve a democratic society. However, activities on this theme require students to answer factual questions or to provide explanations about different opposition groups – political parties, trade unions, grassroots movements – and their role based on sources and information already contained in the textbooks. Despite the interest in this theme, we have identified only one debate-based activity which requires students to discuss the extent to which aspirations of the democratic opposition materialised in the democratic regime that began with the 1978 constitution (T3). Considering the number of sources available in the immediate environment of students, it is surprising that textbooks do not suggest more research activities on a topic that provides good opportunities to introduce a variety of perspectives, working on agency and multi-causality.

As for democratic memory, apart from the consequences of the war – which extended to the postwar years – the repression exercised by the regime against those who opposed it and the activities explicitly referring to the Law of Democratic Memory should be mentioned here. However, relatively few activities suggest working on the consequences of the war and they deal mostly with organising information (T4) or responding to factual questions that can be answered with information from the book (T3). Just one of the books proposes two activities that work on historical empathy connected to the consequences of the war, where students are asked to write a story as if they were refugees (T5). There are no activities about the repression exerted by the Franco dictatorship. This issue is briefly mentioned in textbooks, which refer to the people who were imprisoned, those condemned to death and, in one case, refer to missing persons (T3). It is significant that one of the main issues addressed by the Law of Democratic Memory is not dealt with in the activities of the textbooks analysed. Only two books include questions about censorship, social control and lack of freedom during the dictatorship, which can be answered using the information and sources provided in the books (T4, T5). There is a more significant student-centred activity that proposes debating whether the use of violence is appropriate to counter political repression (T4), but it is questionable how many teachers would feel confident to carry out such a debate in their classroom. In close connection to the Law of Democratic Memory, two textbooks include activities dealing with Franco and Valle de los Caídos: one asks students to find information and give their opinion about the exhumation and displacement of Franco’s remains and the removal of symbols of Francoism (T1), and the other one presents an activity at the beginning of the chapter without any context (T4). Only one book asks students’ opinion about the role of the institute GOGORA – the Basque Institute for Memory, Coexistence and Human Rights (T3). Even though these issues are appropriate to debate and work on historical-thinking concepts such as historical perspectives and ethical dimensions of history, the books appear to shy away from promotion, analysis, reflection or discussion about democratic memory in relation to the Franco dictatorship, and the experiences of victims of dictatorship are absent.

Transition to democracy and the democratic period

As in the case of the Second Republic, we find that valuing, arguing and expressing opinions, answering factual questions, identifying information and describing, together with explaining and presenting information are the most frequent activities when dealing with the re-establishment of democracy after the Franco dictatorship. Even if debating activities seem to be of secondary importance, the frequency of activities where students are asked to express their opinions and justify them is significant.

The activities identified that deal with the process of transition to democracy confirm the narrative of textbooks about this period: the Law for Political Reform marks the beginning of the end of the Francoist period and the 1978 constitution is central for the explanation of the establishment of democracy. Moreover, in most cases the constitution was connected to the fundamental role played by consensus and negotiation in the successful process of transition. Regarding the activities proposed to work on transition, four of the textbooks include activities about the Law of Political Reform, usually requiring students to read a fragment of this law or other information contained in the text and answer factual questions about the main ideas it contains, about its relevance, and about its aims and consequences (T1, T3, T4, T5). In one case, students are asked to compare and identify its differences to dictatorship (T1). As in the case of the Second Republic, it is the constitution that is accorded the most relevance. Students are asked to read the articles of the constitution and summarise the information regarding its political organisation, identifying the rights proclaimed (T1, T2, T3), expressing their opinion about the articles (T3) or formulating arguments on which articles they consider most relevant (T5). There is also an activity that requires students to make a comparison between the Organic Law of the State (1967) and the 1978 constitution, in order to stress the democratic values defended by the latter (T4). Furthermore, many of the books include activities that highlight the consensus around the constitution and its relevance to the success of the democratisation process, requiring students to explain and argue the importance of consensus (T2, T4, T5). There are also several activities that stress the participation of people: some textbooks use factual questions that can be answered with the information they offer, to draw attention to the role played by social mobilisation for political change (T3, T5). Another book proposes that students argue in favour of the importance of participation in elections, highlighting the value of democratic procedures (T1). There is also an interesting debate activity about the interpretations of the transition to democracy (T3), an issue that is still debated in Spanish society.

The failed coup of 23 February 1981 (23F) is another relevant – and still controversial – event in the narratives surrounding transition. In general, this is interpreted as a failed attack on democracy that confirmed the success of the democratisation process. Although not all textbooks include activities on this event, we have identified several activities dealing with 23F. They mainly involve factual questions that can be answered with the information given in the textbooks (T4, T5), but there is also a research and reflection activity about the reactions of society to the coup d’état and what would have happened had it succeeded (T2). Even though this event still raises controversy (or maybe because of that) only one of the textbooks proposes a debate activity where students can discuss the relevance of 23F for the political evolution of the country and whether they consider that there are still threats to democracy (T5).

As we have seen, activities deal mainly with the interpretation of the process of transition, the role of its protagonists and the ability to reach consensus to advance the process of democratisation within a rather complex social, political and economic context (see Figure 4). The procedures chosen range from factual questions, research and reflection, to comparing legislation of democratic and non-democratic regimes which reflect on the importance of defending democracy. Only one of the textbooks includes a more complex project to work on SDG 16, where students can interview people who witnessed and participated in the process of transition (T2).

Figure 4

Types of activities relating to transition and democracy (from 1975) 

Regarding the democratic period after transition, as we have seen, some books dedicate more space to this period than others. Considering the length of the textbooks and the overloaded curriculum, teachers are unlikely to dedicate much time to this period. However, we have identified several activities connected to the establishment of democracy and the relevance of certain laws approved in this period that exemplify the progression and success of the democratisation process in recent decades. These aim at stimulating reflection on the importance of the maintenance and defence of democratic systems. To work on this, we have identified activities requiring the organisation of information in a timeline (T3) as well as factual questions regarding the evolution of democracy from the mid-1980s onwards, and the measures taken by the different governments.

In addition to this, although they do not dedicate so much space to the topic, all the textbooks but one (T5) include at least one activity dealing explicitly with historical or democratic memory. In one case, democratic memory is not mentioned, with the book simply referring to historical memory, asking the student to provide an explanation of the aim of the so-called Law of Historical Memory (2007) and to search for information and explain the differences in understanding of this concept in Spain and in other European countries (T1). The rest of the textbooks explicitly mention the Law of Democratic Memory (2022) and suggest that students investigate its aims (T2), explain the main activities derived from the laws of historical and democratic memory and value how these issues have been dealt with in other countries, resolving the process by considering to what extent the events of the past affect the present (T3). Another textbook asks students to read the first article of the law and answer questions about its aims and the meaning of democratic memory. It also asks students to express their opinions regarding the approach to the recent Spanish past that this law promotes, and whether it helps to aid dialogue between generations (T4). Although it is a sensitive and controversial issue, there are no suggestions students should engage in debate or consider different points of view based on a variety of sources. Although most books include activities connected to the law in its pages, these activities are not particularly demanding and do not engage the learners in debate or even analysis of the different views about this issue in Spanish society. Textbooks do not make specific reference to the existing controversy, nor do they suggest particular procedures to deal with it in history lessons. The absence of references to the lieux de mémoire (Nora, 1984) established by this law or to discussions around some of the historical events and processes explicitly mentioned by the law in the different periods we have analysed suggests that these textbooks do not yet offer sufficient resources to contribute to the educational aims established by the law.

Research ethics statement

Not applicable to this article.

Consent for publication statement

Not applicable to this article.

Conflicts of interest statement

The author declares no conflicts of interest with this work. All efforts to sufficiently anonymise the author during peer review of this article have been made. The author declares no further conflicts with this article.