Education for peace in the primary school teachers’ education in Portugal between 1890-1936

Abstract

In the late nineteenth century, Portuguese educators question the concept of patriotism (César Porto, 1902) and appeal for peace (Alice Pestana, 1898). César Porto wondered about the reasons that would lead those who advocated “a religion of civility” to devastate other homelands when the political preponderance of theirs was in danger. The understanding of the origin of conflicts, the classification of wars in offensives and defensives and the critique to the concept of patriotism are present in some educators. The article aims to analyse in what way the training of teachers in Portugal addressed the issue of peace in the period between 1890-1936. We interrogate the ability of the education to contribute to peace, creating a repulse for war and the need to seek peaceful solutions for conflicts. The analysis will cover the end of the monarchy and the republican and democratic Portuguese period. We will use as sources some manuals used in the teachers’ education at the Normal School, particularly in the one in Porto. We will also confront the positions presented by primary teachers in congresses and some opinions expressed in newspaper articles. By asking ourselves about the ability of education to contribute for peace, we are reflecting and questioning the foundations of the exercise of the teaching profession. The analysis of the textbooks used in the Normal Schools allows us to conclude that the training of primary school teachers in Portugal rarely touched the problem of peace.