43. From farmhouse to school. Educating in Barcelona

Barcelona City Council’s Cultural Committee set up schools for pupils with special needs in a setting conducive to learning in the open air at the prompting of educationalist Manuel Ainaud, who advocated a rationalist and Montessorian teaching approach. They were opened in March 1921 as a flu epidemic had prevented them from starting out at the beginning of the school year. In 1973, the City Council moved them to a new building on a neighbouring estate where they are still operating today.

The ties with researchers from Europe and America, attendance at congresses and publications reflect the results achieved and the methods used during the first years of the Vil·la Joana schools.