Pedagogical practices in the literacy process in the First Republic (1889-1930)

Abstract

This article examines pedagogical practices in the literacy process in the First Republic in Brazil, seeking clues to understand the role of teaching methods taking into account their historicity; Literacy, which was limited to decoding letters and words, has expanded to include understanding, interpreting and producing texts. The aim is to analyze teaching practices and methods in literacy processes as a political and nationalizing tool, which was foreseen in the normative documents in the period, emphasizing identifying challenges and contributions to the achievement of quality education. The historical method is used in the investigation, helping us with bibliographic and documentary research: in the first, by exploring concepts about literacy (Mortatti, 2004; Cagliari, 1999), teaching strategies (Delors, 2006; Roldão, 2009) and ideologies in relation to teaching (Gadotti, 2006; Aranha, 2001); in the second, referencing educational records and pedagogical materials in order to understand the social, political and cultural contexts that echoed pedagogical practices in Brazil: the analysis of the teaching strategies proposed at the First Interstate Conference of 1921 taken as a historical source, reveals the importance of innovation in pedagogical practice and the modernization of teaching that emphasizes active learning, the contextualization of content and civic training. There is a clear need to improve teaching methods and collaboration between the federal and state levels to eradicate illiteracy; literacy trajectory as a process of constant transformation influenced by social, cultural and legislative changes, which points to its evolution depending on the needs and challenges in the school universe.