“Another way of teaching”: the French ‘classes nouvelles’ and their overflow into Brazil in the 1950s

Abstract

This article proposes an understanding of the “classes nouvelles”, their circulation and appropriation in Brazilian secondary education in the 1950s. Idealized and implemented by Gustave Monod in French secondary education, from 1945 onwards, the “classes nouvelles” established an innovative school culture based on New Education. This pedagogical experience circulated in state of São Paulo thanks to Luis Contier who, after an internship in France, implemented it at a São Paulo school where he worked. The Contier experience, known as experimental secondary classes, instigated the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Culture to create legislation, in 1958, that allowed the introduction of these classes in Brazilian schools. This work is thought from concepts of the new cultural history and is carried out with sources written in French and Portuguese.