Dr. Jose Garitagoitia

23 April 2012

Don Jose has been a regular visitor to the School since 2006 when he first accompanied his students and was instrumental in setting up a Spanish Summer School here at The Oratory.  He comes from Bilbao, the largest city in the Basque Country in the north of Spain, where he teaches at Gaztelueta, the school where he studied, which is a large prestigious English style school near Bilbao attended by 1.204 boys. When the Head Master Clive Dytor visited Gaztelueta last year, he invited Don Jose to teach at The Oratory during the summer term - an invitation he gladly accepted.

After studying for a Masters in Law at the Basque University, he went to Madrid where he specialized in the Ethic dimension of Politics. His Doctoral Thesis in Political Sciences (2000) on the “Ethical Political Thought of John Paul II” and his influence in the fall of the Berlin Wall and the transformation of Eastern and Central Europe was published by the Spanish Government (2002), with a foreword by the last Secretary General of the Soviet Communist Party, Mr Mijail Gorbachev, who met him to talk on the research.

In more recent times he has completed his Doctoral Thesis in Public International Law (2008) at the University of Zaragoza. His books can be found at important libraries such as the US Congress Library (Washington), the Peace Palace Library at the UN headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland), or more closely at the Oxford University Bodleian Library.Although Don Jose continues his academic research, his main job is as a teacher at Gaztelueta.

At Assembly this morning, Monday 23rd April, Don Jose gave a short presentation during which he thanked the Head Master, boys and staff for allowing him to visit and he presented the School Captain, James Doe, with a special flag from his Spanish School.

The Oratory School welcomes Don Jose for the Summer Term. He is seconded to FitzAlan House during this time and will of course be teaching Spanish.