A Struggling Nation Since Its Founding? Liberal Italy and the Cost of Neglecting Primary Education

Abstract

In this remarkable volume, the editors present thirteen national case studies of the origins and outcomes of school acts that were passed during the construction of public school systems in the long nineteenth century. The chapter authors are leading scholars in the history of education who demonstrate both the distinctive process of school formation in different countries and the parallel processes and shared conceptions that shaped the process. Not only does the book allow us to understand the emergence of mass schooling in comparative context, but it also fosters an understanding that incorporates both the political and social histories of schooling." -David F. Labaree, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University School of Education, USA "A welcome and timely addition to our historical understanding of the interactions between school legislation and the emergence of modern school systems. Methodologically innovative in their use of new social, cultural and economic approaches, the authors of the different case studies challenge the reader to think comparatively and analytically about the acts, concepts and processes that underlay the rise of mass schooling in the West." -Rebecca E. Rogers, Professor in the History of Education,

Between Popular Demand for Education and Budgetary Constraints: The Example of the Organisation of Hamlet Schools in Savoy (1860–1880)

“…The figures in the Statistique de l' instruction primaire en 1863, (Statistics of Primary Education for the year 1863), which only counted public hamlet schools for boys or mixed establishments, reflect the specific role of these schools in the schooling of the Savoyard population: the 284 schools counted in the department represent 36 per cent of the 788 that were counted nationwide. The departments of Vosges (117), Hautes-Alpes (82) and Cantal (61) follow. 54 Aveyron, Lozère and Haute-Loire did not have any of these public establishments, the hamlets being provided only with free schools.…”

“…The maintaining of a decentralised school system until the beginning of the twentieth century, leaving the hamlet schools to themselves and not allowing ambulatory schools, slowed down the progress of schooling and contributed to perpetuating regional disparities. 82 In France, on the other hand, the affirmation of school centralisation under republican governments, including with regard to hamlet schools, partly explains the development of elementary school culture and the reduction of regional disparities at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the following century. 83 But since the second half of the twentieth century, the model of the republican communal school and its cost have been called into question.…”

What We Can Learn From Studying The Past: The Wonderful Usefulness of History in Educational Research

“…These include the organization of school systems in tracks, which in many countries still reflects the segmented school systems of the late 19th century (Hörner et al, 2015); how current teacher reforms are reliant on 20th-century teacher reform traditions (Zeichner & Liston, 1990); and regional variations in schooling. Any study of the performance of the Italian school system must take into account the power of the historical legacy of the North-South divide (Cappelli, 2019). In order to understand students' test scores in Poland, we need to be aware of historical persistence.…”