Implantación del sistema educativo liberal la instrucción primaria en León durante la primera mitad del siglo XIX

Abstract

Education in Leon can be considered as an example of both a dynamic and steady situation. There are periods of certain stagnation, coupled with others of constant activity. This is due, to certain degree, to the good health which public instruction had achieved since the last decades of the 18th century. This baseline positive context will increase during the first half of the 19th century due to a large series of private initiatives which are a clear reflection of the development of a liberal educational system, especially after the implementation of the School Plans (1821). This dynamic nature will be best reflected in primary education. This sector will be privileged and favoured within the educational reality in Leon. The statistical data found in different sources (reference books, Census, Madoz's dictionary, etc.), as well as some of the detailed documents from these years, all attest to the fact that Leon was an important province in Spain in educational terms during these years. The reason for this favourable position will be mainly because of the school infrastructures, number of teachers, funding, and level of scholarization. Nevertheless, we should also not forget the emergence of the Normal School (Escuela Normal) and the number of inspectors the province has during this era. All these factors are clear examples of the efforts made to decrease the number of illiterate people, and the strong interest Leon has in educational issues. With this view of the educational reality in Leon we will be able to know in more detail different aspects related to the educational system, and analyse in more depth the levels of literacy in order to understand more correctly the historical evolution of primary instruction during the threshold of the Moyano Law.