O ensino da leitura e da escrita na província do Maranhão (1827 – 1860)

Abstract

In this study, which is inserted on the History, Educational Policies and Human Formation research line of the Postgraduate Program on Education at the Federal University of Maranhão, the teaching of reading and writing and the respective conception in use on the process of schooling poor children in MA in the XIX century are analyzed, between the years 1827 and 1860, moment in which is implemented a policy of primary school expansion. The question is to what extent the different implicit conceptions in the teaching of reading and writing contributed to the schooling of these children, in order to understand the meanings attributed to this teaching, the world and instruction/education views that were projected, as well as the understandings about being a child in this scenario, taking into account the conflicts and power relations. The investigation is based on the theoretical-methodological assumptions of Cultural History, based on its three inseparable axes, with the aim of understanding the forms of teaching organization after the Law of 1827, as well as the school implementation policy throughout the province, according to the teaching of reading and writing in its materiality and historicity, due to the form, frequency, device and structure in which it is presented in the documentation and bibliography: in the first one, the set of reports from the president of the province and the Inspectorate of Maranhão, Public Instruction Regulations, letters and some periodicals, as well as the legislation produced at the time; in the second, from three specific categories: teaching reading and writing, the schooling process and the child. It was clear that the conceptions about reading and writing directly impacted their organization and structuring, and also had been intertwined with another group of ideas such as security, morality, care and protection, since the provision of this teaching to the poor population was made from two routes in Maranhão: public schools and charitable institutions. We conclude that the teaching of reading and writing in Maranhão Império was based on different representations about the child, the school and the primary literacy teacher himself, which also resulted in different practices