Instrução primária no Rio de Janeiro: projetos e desafios no pós-Independência (1824-1834)

Abstract

The research focuses on the analysis of the projects and challenges of organizing primary or elementary education in the post-Independence period (1824 – 1834), a period marked by a profound transformation in projects aimed at teaching first letters, relating to the public policies of time, with emphasis on the study of the debates around the conceptions and initiatives of the so-called schools of first letters. The research problem consists of examining the organization of projects and public actions aimed at the problem of instruction in this period of the History of Brazilian Education, which allowed the recognition of the existence of a field of dispute regarding this matter. The work carried out chose a specific environment to identify and think about the projects in dispute, that is, the analysis of the Annals of the Senate of the Empire, in its first legislature. From the study of this material, it was possible to observe the existence of a great debate on this subject in the Chamber of Senators of the Empire of Brazil between 1826 and 1834, from which it became possible to undertake a reflective analysis about the educational projects in the context of post-Independence. The methodology used in this research was based on documental research, highlighting regulations, a statistical map of an elementary school in Rio de Janeiro and other manuscripts in the custody of the National Archive. With regard to conceptual aspects, we dialogue with Gondra, 2004, 2008, Limeira and Gondra, 2022, Moacyr, 1936 and Chervel, 1990, among others. Based on this research, it was possible to identify well-determined subjects, debates about primary schools in the capital of the Brazilian Empire and their general properties (space, time, knowledge, methods, subjects, agencies). Reflection on these movements aimed at affirming the concept of school allows us to perceive the existence of complex mediations around initial schooling, its continuities and shifts, with challenges that are not limited to the period focused on in this dissertation.