Elbira Zipitria Irastorza

Abstract

Elbira Zipitria is a Basque woman who possesses as many faces as a polyhedral. She had revolutionary ideas and considerable class awareness. She was the seed that bore fruit in the form of the ikastolas (Basque schools), and she was the connection between the pre-war Basque schools and the post-war movement. In her pedagogical work, she had her eyes on Europe: the Basque language, languages, mathematics and the environment were her bases, and she believed in a clear work procedure: the teacher was a guide, pluralism was the basis, and logic was the working tool. After the war, in the dark Franquist years, she pushed her revolutions to the extreme: the struggle in favour of the Basque language, the renewal of teaching, Basque schools....