Miguel Martín-Sánchez (2022). El gatopardo educativo. ¿Qué hay de neo en las pedagogías alternativas? Barcelona: Ediciones Octaedro, 160 pp.

Abstract

Drawing on his background in the history of education and the tradition of critical pedagogies that view emerging educational trends with skepticism when they ignore the historical, social, and material realities of learners, Spanish educator Miguel Martín-Sánchez presents in this book a radical critique of the commodification of educational innovation as a value in and of itself, thereby adopting a historical-critical approach. The title is provocative, drawing on the metaphor from Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel The Leopard —change everything so that nothing changes— and its application to the current educational landscape. Consistent with his critical perspective, he asks whether alternative pedagogies are truly innovative or whether they actually mask and perpetuate the existence of traditional power structures.