History of training and work of teachers in rural schools (1940-1970)

Abstract

The history of the training and work of teachers in rural primary schools holds great potential for investigation, for it allows further development of various correlated themes in the educational field, such as the history of the teaching profession and of the school, as well as schooling of children and of adults, and the ways of dissemination of a culture of literacy in the rural area. In the different countries of Latin America, the education of rural laborers has historically constituted a challenge of undeniable proportions. Nevertheless, the important role of rural schools in schooling children in Latin America cannot be disregarded. For that reason, the expansion of historiographic production regarding this theme in the past decade has been of fundamental significance. In this regard, the proposal of a dossier to take up the theme of the history of the training and work of rural teachers (1940 to 1970) arises from the results obtained in the project Training and Work of Rural Teachers in Brazil: PR, SP, MG, RJ, MA, MS, MT, PE, PI, SE, PB, and RO (from the 1940s to 1970s) [Formação e Trabalho de Professoras e Professores Rurais no Brasil: PR, SP, MG, RJ, MA, MS, MT, PE, PI, SE, PB, RO (décadas de 40 a 70 do século XX)], carried out under the coordination of Prof. Dr. Rosa Fátima de Souza Chaloba (Unesp). The aim of this project, of an interinstitutional nature, was to analyze the professionalization of teachers in Brazil, seeking to understand the public policies undertaken on a national and state level for training of rural teachers and the manners of recruitment, the career, salaries, and working conditions of teachers in the countryside. As such, the aim is to contribute to writing up the history of rural education in Brazil. The initial reference for the time period is taken from the initiatives of the federal government in promoting expansion of rural primary education through allocating funds, construction of schools, and regulations and directives for teacher education. The final reference in the 1970s is explained by the extinction of this model of training and the adoption of new models through implementation of the Educational Reform of Primary and Secondary School [Reforma do Ensino de 1° e 2° Graus] (Law 5.692/71). In this respect, the texts that compose this dossier address the period from 1940 to 1970, except for the first article, which takes up the object of study situating it at the beginning of the twentieth century. Notwithstanding this discrepancy, we consider that the analysis undertaken by its author is important for situating the discussion in the context of Argentina and, consequently, the time frame is consistent with the problematic addressed. We therefore evaluate there not to be any loss to the temporal consistency underlying this dossier.