Reconceptualizing Liberating Non‐formal Education: a Catalan case study

Clandestine Catalan instruction in Catalonia between 1940 and 1970 provides illuminating data for the construction of theory with respect to the symbiotic relationship between education and social movements. This case-study also renders important insight into the mechanics of intergroup relations in pluralistic societies. Paulston's (Paulston, 1980a, 1980b; Paulston & LeRoy, 1975, 1982) conceptualisation of 'liberating' non-formal education programs and their role in collective efforts for social change serves as the foundation for the present work. His framework has already been utilized to discuss educational programs developed by social and ethnic movements serving low-status, minority populations in North American and Northern European open, democratic societies. However, this study extends the application of Paulston's framework to the Southern European region of Catalonia and its high-status, middle-class population, during a closed, authori- tarian period in Spanish history. At the same time, this study suggests the need to refine the framework and Paulston's classificatory schemata.