The School of Education and Psychology, former department of Education, deeply regrets the death of Mr. José Luis González-Simancas Lacasa.

Born in Madrid in 1924, he graduated in History, but his pedagogical vocation, which germinated in the family, took shape from his programs of study for two years at the Institute of Education of the University of London, as scholarship recipient of the committee Superior Institute for Scientific Research (CSIC). This experience, as he himself recognized, decisively marked his pedagogical training .

His subsequent professional career was that of an educator, promoter of various academic and institutional pedagogical initiatives inspired by his British educational experience. He participated from the beginning in the launching of high school Gaztelueta (Bilbao) and in its pedagogical statement of core values . There, in addition to Director Technician during a stage, he worked as professor and put special effort in the institutional establishment of the participatory methodology and individualized attention to students, as well as in the development of the tutorial as an element core topic for the integral training of the students. For him, teaching and academic orientation-staff of student are the two sides of the teacher's task.

His intense pedagogical experience during 14 years at Gaztelueta led him to become interested in the training of teachers, which brought him to the University of Navarra, in 1965, to start the high school of Sciences of the Education (ICE), which was model of the ICE that subsequently followed many other Universities of the State and, later, he collaborated in the launching of the licentiate degree of Sciences of the Education of the School of Philosophy and Letters.

Before starting this new journey and in order to base his own educational theory, he turned his gaze once again to the British Education , analyzing the educational projects of the Institutes of Education of the universities of London, Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham. With the new baggage acquired, which nourished his deep-rooted convictions and pedagogical vocation, he dedicated his entire professional life to the initial training of academic staff, the improvement of educational center directors, the training of teacher-tutors and of numerous promotions of pedagogues.

He developed an extensive research activity and professor. Until completing the licentiate degree in Sciences of the Education he was in charge of the teaching of various disciplines. In 1983 he was appointed by civil service examination Associate Professor University without place -an academic category equivalent today to that of full professor-. As a result, he was appointed, at the University of Navarra, Professor of Didactics and Educational Guidance and director of department of the same name. In 1986 he became Full Professor and director of the doctoral program in Pedagogy of the School of Philosophy and Letters.

In this context and tireless in his commitment to improve the Education, he was the creator of other pioneering pedagogical projects. Among them, and in partnership with the Clinic of the University of Navarra, he promoted the development of what we know as Hospital Pedagogy: the pedagogical financial aid for children hospitalized for long-term illnesses, which today is part of the training curricula of Pedagogy and Teaching in Spanish and foreign universities, and is a reality in many hospital centers. He also started up the service of tutorial of the University of Navarra and advised the Government of Navarra in the implementation of the figure of delegate school center.

All his enormous work shows his genuinely pedagogical vocation and personality, his tenacity and his unconditional submission to Education. In his projects, in his research, in the way he conceived the teaching of his subjects and the students' practices, he always prioritized the full integration between pedagogical theory and educational internship and he did it with love, with an inspiring and incomparable style.

In his classes, Professor González-Simancas made his students think, asking them to write essays on practical issues and problems related to Education, in which they had to integrate knowledge from different disciplines and new information, so that they could critically reflect and argue their own position staff. He analyzed and commented tirelessly, with meticulousness, enthusiasm and affection essay after essay. As a former student and teacher of our School for years commented: "When he had reviewed what we were doing, he would prepare a document containing ideas contributed by each and every one of his students. And he would comment on them. He managed to extract the best from each one(educere)". José Luis continually encouraged dialogue and cooperation, which are indispensable for progress at knowledge and learning. He taught with the keys that favor active and committed learning from student. He was a pioneer, since he had been doing for a long time what the most innovative educational proposals today point out, in order to develop the competencies of students in the 21st century, and he did it with mastery, excellence and in his own way.

He was a great Teacher -Master with capital letters- of most of the professors of the new School of Education and Psychology. With his death we experience, like many other students he had over several decades, a certain feeling of orphanhood. He embodied the qualities we all love in a good professor.

He stood out for his affability, for his personality, so out of the ordinary and loved by all his students. Among his traits as a person and as a teacher, some of his alumni -now professors of the School- point out the following; as can be seen in their testimonies they are quite coincident:

"He was a good person who, at the same time, believed in the goodness of others. He always said that Education was "a relationship of financial aid" which reached its highest expression when it led to "self-help"".

"Father of Pedagogy, deeply passionate about the Education was an exemplary teacher, who lived all his pedagogical convictions. With his example of life and excellence as a teacher, he offered to all of us who wanted to dedicate ourselves to the task of educating, a model of being and doing that we have as a reference to emulate. He made us truly feel that pedagogy and dedicating ourselves to educate was the best of the best".

"A man of one piece, without duplicity, he taught with unparalleled passion. Profoundly human. For him each and every one of his students was equally valuable, we felt radically welcomed, important, unique. With his silent, kind, affectionate smile he touched our hearts. He was so great staff and professionally that he did everything with immense wisdom and simplicity".

"He embodied the human qualities of what we can consider an ideal person and teacher. submission without conditions, enthusiasm for everything he did, inner joy, extreme kindness, coherence of life: his being and his doing merged in perfect harmony. He knew how to love radically. He left no one indifferent".

"I have the image of his endearing smile that defined his person: close and at the same time infinitely respectful, deferential, courteous, and yet open, welcoming, sensitive. Always ready to dialogue without haste, he knew how to listen as long as necessary, with attention, with empathy, with moving faith in the honesty of his interlocutor, with a very strong commitment to the whole person, without restrictions and with all that was needed: his illusion, his interest, his time, his effort, his mediation and financial aid generous".

"As a born and experienced educator and delegate , in his classes he stressed the importance of academic guidance and staff and made us see the need to always trust the student, even if it could mislead us."

"An innovative, original, genuine man, who was not moved by worldly glitter, nor did he seek to stand out, preferring to suffer rather than to be right. Academically, with clear ideas, resolute and tenacious. As a vocational university professor, he would capture his students, promotion by promotion, and would open new paths for us, making us work, smile and believe in ourselves and in pedagogy in a different way. An elegant man, not only in his demeanor, but in everything that surrounded his university life".

 "He was a real optimist: he always saw the good in people. I don't remember seeing him angry."

"He reached the soul. He saw in each one of us our best self and, with his relationship with financial aid, he guided us in that, as he used to say, self-task that each one of us has to grow and perfect ourselves. Many of us who had the good fortune to know him and be his disciples owe him a great part of what we are".

"The man with the eternal smile, the eternal and soft joy. Always welcoming, with him you felt you had already arrived home".

Don José Luis, with that peace that he always had, accompanies us from heaven, to the sound of his inseparable harmonica.

Thank you for everything, Mr. José Luis.