Manuel Bartolomé Cossío (1857-1935)

Abstract

One of the great Spanish pedagogues is Manuel Cossío because of his diverse educational postulates and because he was the first professor of Pedagogy at the Spanish University; he also called for social and economic recognition for teachers.

Cossío is known for contributing, together with Giner de los Ríos, to the creation of the ILE (Institución Libre de Enseñanza), still in force due to its highly relevant teaching procedures and strategies.

Some of the thoughts he defended were: the importance of play, pre-school or infant education, manual work, artistic education, music, school excursions, summer camps, encouraging reading through good stories, research and experimentation on reality, harmony with nature and art and the achievement of an integral education, in which ethical education for peace and ecological love of nature would have an important space in the school.