Fernando Alcoforado*
This article aims to present how education evolved in the world from the 18th century to the 21st century. This article represents the continuation of Part 1 of the article that addresses the evolution of education in the world from Prehistory to the 18th century. The analysis of the evolution of education in the world from Prehistory to the 18th century reveals that during most of human history, formal education was only accessible to a small and privileged sector of society. When it was supplied to broader sectors of society, it served mainly cultural, religious, social, spiritual and military purposes. However, in none of the educational systems implemented in Antiquity and the Middle Ages was the development of skills that would be useful for adult professional occupations the main concern. Literacy rates for most of human existence have been negligible. In the Middle Ages, literacy rates were less than 10% in countries such as China, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and even lower in other parts of the world [3].
The 18th century was a landmark moment in the history of humanity because it was at this time that the Enlightenment emerged in Europe and the Industrial Revolution took place in England, which transformed world society by leveraging the development of capitalism across the planet. It was also at this time that the Independence of the United States and the French Revolution occurred, driven by the ideal of the Enlightenment. As it could not fail to happen, all these events contributed to advances in the field of education, as can be seen by reading the next paragraphs.
1. Education in the 18th Century (1701 to 1800)
The 18th century was marked by numerous transformations that were greatly influenced by Enlightenment ideas. Among these transformations we can highlight; the Independence of the United States, the French Revolution and the 1st Industrial Revolution, all of them based on the ideas of the Enlightenment that sought to defend freedom, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government and the separation between Church and State. It was a time of consolidation of capitalism as the dominant economic system and the construction of the national State that represented the interests of the most economically powerful class: the bourgeoisie. Education as a right for all, the State’s obligation to maintain schools, the right to free public education, the guarantee that public schools are not under the control of any religious creed (secularism) were flags defended by the revolutionary bourgeoisie, but which were not fully put into practice after it became the dominant class [1].
In the centuries leading up to the Industrial Revolution in England in 1786, as Europe made its first advances in both technology and commerce, the importance of education began to increase. From this moment on, for the first time in history, there was the formation of human resources aimed at meeting the needs of industrialization through a workforce equipped with literacy, mathematical literacy and mechanical skills. Workers developed skills mainly through on-the-job training. Industrialization (1st Industrial Revolution in 1786 and 2nd Industrial Revolution in 1850) triggered a revolution in mass education in several European countries and the United States. The development of certain skills was necessary for the creation of an industrial society. Industrialized countries around the world have supported the provision of public education [3].
The 1st Industrial Revolution and the birth of factories created space for the emergence of the modern public school institution. The factory and the school are born together, the laws that create state schools come together with the laws that suppress corporate learning. Catholic influence in education began to decline, and its decline grew in the 19th century, with the suppression of the Jesuit order. In the 18th century, the process of secularization of education advanced with the removal of religious influence. From the 18th century onwards, it was considered a requirement for a worker to be at least literate and capable of operating the machines that were the symbol of the industrial revolution and the right to education for women and the people in general was recognized, an education that freed them from conditions of psychological and cognitive delay and marginality and placed them as productive elements within society [1].
Jean-Jacques Rousseau is considered the father of modern pedagogy for representing his thinking as the most advanced because he sought to point out to man how to achieve happiness, both in terms of the individual and in relation to society. In the first case, he formulated a pedagogy in which he draws the lines with the aim of making the child a good adult based on his belief in the natural goodness of man. The objectives of education for Rousseau involve two aspects: the development of the child’s natural potential and their avoidance of social evils. In the second case, he theorized about the political problem and wrote the Social Contract that formulated the constitution of a State as an organizer of civil society as it is known today. Rousseau believed that it would be possible to think of an ideal society, thus having his ideology reflected in the conception of the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century. According to Rousseau, it would be possible to preserve man’s natural freedom and at the same time guarantee the security and well-being of life in society through a social contract through which the sovereignty of society would prevail, the political sovereignty of the collective will [1].
The French Revolution of 1789 meant the intervention of the State in education traditionally handed over to the Catholic Church with the adoption of a policy that aims at a school that develops the student’s abilities, that establishes true equality between citizens, that provides complete freedom of education and that values scientific culture. Five grades of schools were established: primary, secondary, institutes, lyceums and universities (national society for science and arts). Revolutionary turmoil prevented the execution of this project. In 1794, the moderate revolutionaries (Girondians) overthrew the Jacobin government of Robespierre and took control of the Revolution. Faced with the threat of civil war, the Girondists carried out the “Coup of the 18th Brumaire” when Napoleon Bonaparte took power. In power, Napoleon’s expansionist policy imposed French interests in Europe and also spread secular, state and civil guidelines in the reorganization of education systems. Despite the revolutionary force emanating from France, proposals for state intervention in the field of education had already been occurring before 1789 [1].
It was in 1717, in Prussia, public education was established as a compulsory school for children between 5 and 12 years old, by King Frederick William. Later, laws emerged that prevented the hiring of any child who did not complete this mandatory study. This compulsory education was of profound interest to the State for the training of soldiers and workers, but it revolutionized society in several aspects. It was King Frederick William who inaugurated the Prussian compulsory education system, the first national system in Europe. In 1717, he ordered compulsory attendance for all children in state schools and, in later acts, followed with the provision for the construction of more schools. Frederick II’s successor, Frederick William III, Baron Von Stein, continued this educational ideal by abolishing semi-religious private schools, decreeing the need for a state examination and certification of all teachers, among other political measures regarding education. In 1812, the school graduation examination was resumed as a necessary requirement for a child’s entry into state schools, and an elaborate system of bureaucrats was established to supervise schools in the countryside and cities [2]. In England, mutual teaching emerged at the end of the 18th century, an educational initiative promoted by private individuals in which teenagers instructed directly by the master acted as assistants or monitors teaching other teenagers. In England, a pioneer of the industrial revolution, there was a tendency for education to be provided by the private sector using the mutual teaching method, unlike Germany and France where state initiative prevailed [1].
2. Education in the 19th Century (1801 to 1900)
In the 19th century, Pestalozzi’s pedagogies emerged, as well as positivist and socialist pedagogies. Pestalozzi’s pedagogy takes up Rousseau’s pedagogy, which considered that man is good and needs to be assisted in his development, considers that moral, intellectual and professional education must be developed closely linked to each other and also considers that instruction is necessary take into account the different experiences that each student must carry out in their own environment. Émile Durkheim’s positivist pedagogy considered that education is social learning and a means to conform individuals to the collective norms and values of societies. The socialist pedagogy proposed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels considered that education means intellectual training, physical education and technological instruction and that it is through education that society is transformed. Marx and Engels defended the thesis that the school should be entirely secular and free from the influence of the Church and the State [1].
It was in 1833 that a law revolutionized primary education in France and the world: the law that established the obligation of a primary school for children in communes with more than 500 inhabitants, in addition to a training school for basic education teachers in each French department. Jules Ferry, then Minister of Education, approved a law in 1881 that established free schools, and in 1882 a second law, which made education for children aged 3 to 6 years mandatory and secular. These laws served as a starting point for new laws on education that would emerge around the world. The French Revolution tried to shape the student based on the class consciousness that was the center of the program content. The bourgeoisie was clear about what it wanted from education: workers trained as citizens participating in a new liberal and democratic society. From the 16th century onwards, Germany took steps in this direction. In France, this impulse happened with the French Revolution. England came under pressure for school education with the Industrial Revolution. School expansion was consolidated in the 19th century when the interest in education as an element of valuing a nation became evident. It is important to note that in 1850, the adult illiteracy rate in Western Europe was approximately 40 to 45% of the population. With the inclusion of Russia, the illiteracy rate reached 60%. In Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece, the illiteracy rate reached 60% to 70% [1]. These numbers demonstrate that education was a privilege of few in Europe.
Distance Education (EAD), widely used today, mediated by technologies in which students and teachers are separated spatially and/or temporally, that is, they are not physically present in a face-to-face teaching-learning environment, has been known since the 19th century . In 1833, an advertisement published in Sweden already referred to teaching by correspondence, and in England, in 1840. The improvement of postal services, the streamlining of means of transport and, above all, the technological development applied to the field of communication and information had a decisive influence on the fate of distance education. From then on, the use of a new means of communication began, radio, invented by Marconi in 1896, which also penetrated formal education. Radio has achieved great success in national and international experiences, having been widely explored in Latin America in distance education programs, including in Brazil [4].
3. Education in the 20th Century (1901 to 2000)
In the 20th century, the educational debate involved two major theoretical currents: the New School and the Marxist conception, the first identified with capitalism and the second with socialism. Neither of these two currents was fully applied. The New School was the pedagogical movement with the greatest influence on education in the 20th century. Its theorist was John Dewey who had Anísio Teixeira as his follower in Brazil. John Dewey defended the thesis that the school could not remain apart from productive transformation and economic growth, highlighted the democratic function of education and valued science as a method of democratic education. Dewey’s pedagogy is inspired by pragmatism, in permanent contact between the theoretical and practical moments, is intertwined with research in experimental sciences and, in particular, psychology and sociology and is committed to building a philosophy of education aimed at training citizen with a modern, scientific mindset and open to collaboration. Dewey’s pedagogy is part of a movement called the “active school” or “new school” from the end of the 19th century to the 1930s of the 20th century. Dewey’s pedagogy values the child, placing him at the center of the didactic activity, opposing the authoritarian characteristics of the traditional school [1].
Marxist pedagogy established a combination between education and society because every educational practice incorporates values and ideological interests linked to the economic and political structure of society, it adopted educational strategies considering the centrality of work in the formation of man focused on the future and the priority role that he must emphasize the value of the integrally human education of all people freed from conditions of submission and alienation. In the pre-Stalinist era, the Soviet school was deeply influenced by the pedagogy of Anton Makarenko, the greatest Russian pedagogue, who emphasized work, the collective, collaboration, the perspective of the “joy of tomorrow” and happiness for everyone and not just the happiness of the individual as advocated by Rousseau and the revolutionaries of the Enlightenment. While John Dewey’s New School became a reference in capitalist countries, Marxism influenced education in the Soviet Union and the socialist countries of Eastern Europe. Neither the New School prevailed in capitalist countries, nor did Marxist pedagogy materialize in the Soviet Union or in Eastern European countries [1].
The Marxist ideologue, Antonio Gramsci, formulated a richer pedagogical model. In his theorization he valued the human activity that interprets and transforms reality. Gramsci believed that it is possible to bring together classes or social groups interested in building social change to build a cultural and political hegemony contrary to capitalism. Gramsci considered that cultural hegemony is built through the action of many educational institutions that must cover every citizen. Gramsci developed the pedagogical proposal of the “single school” seeking to equate intellectual work and productive work, developing the ability to think and knowing how to direct oneself in life. As for the educational principle and contents, he defended socialist humanism and the “single school of general culture” (intellectual work and manual work) followed by specialized schools (professionals) [1].
In the 20th century, there were several original pedagogical innovations in developing countries that had resonance in Europe and the United States, such as the adult education campaign applying awareness models as Paulo Freire did in Brazil. According to Paulo Freire, within the few existing schools, a teaching-learning concept prevailed based on pedagogical contents that were completely disassociated from the concrete socioeconomic reality experienced by Brazilian society at the time. Paulo Freire developed his “pedagogy of the oppressed”. For him, the transition from a “closed society” (agrarian) to an “open society” (urban-industrial) necessarily demanded the eradication of illiteracy, as the condition of existence of the illiterate implied the manifestation of a naive consciousness in relation to the surrounding world and, therefore, reproduces the old agrarian social “status quo”. For Paulo Freire, it was therefore necessary to free the man who lived trapped in the “closed society” through access to knowledge historically accumulated by humanity.
4. Education in the 21st Century (2001 to the present)
In the contemporary era, education is no longer just face-to-face to also become non-face-to-face or partially face-to-face with distance education (EAD), which is, in modern times, a modality of education mediated by technologies in which students and teachers are spatially separated and/or temporally, that is, they are not physically present in a face-to-face teaching-learning environment. Today education can be processed in person, semi-in-person and distance learning. In-person education corresponds to regular courses where teachers and students always meet at an educational institution. Blended education takes place partly in the classroom and partly remotely, using information technology. Currently, EAD makes it possible to insert the student as a subject in their learning process, with the advantage that they also discover ways to become an active subject of research and share content. In distance learning there is no difference between its methodology and that used in face-to-face teaching. What changes, basically, is not the teaching methodology, but the form of communication. In this learning process, as well as in regular education, the learning advisor or tutor acts as a “mediator”, that is, the one who establishes a multidirectional communication and learning network [4].
Today, the possibilities of EAD are broad. It is possible take a distance course in practically the same way as in-person courses, with students attending teacher classes online, with audiovisual content being shown. Assessments can be carried out in real time, also via the network, with the right amount of time to complete them. The teaching methodology, the way of evaluating student learning and the teaching staff’s performance in distance education have undergone a revolution. Abroad, there is a tendency to close the border between distance and face-to-face education. Courses that were previously exclusively in-person now include a part carried out remotely. In Brazil, since the founding of the Monitor Institute in 1939, several distance education experiments have been initiated and carried out with relative success. Brazilian experiences, governmental and private, were many and represented, in recent decades, the mobilization of large amounts of resources. Currently, non-face-to-face teaching mobilizes pedagogical resources from almost the entire world, both in industrialized nations and in developing countries. New and more complex courses are developed, both within formal education systems and in the areas of professional training [4].
Technological progress has facilitated the dissemination of knowledge, obscuring the centrality of the school, making it a requirement to redefine its role in the contemporary era. The school is no longer the only locus that transmits knowledge. In the contemporary era, however, it is up to the school to provide full human formation [5]. The great educational challenge of the future is represented by the rapid changes that are occurring in the world of work thanks to technological advances, especially the impact of artificial intelligence, which was born from Computer Science and is an extremely multidisciplinary area, involving Psychology, Neuroscience, Decision Theory and Economy, which could lead to the end of some professions and generate mass unemployment of qualified and unskilled workers. All of this suggests that we are experiencing a transition that places enormous strain on the economy and society. Education offered in its current form to workers and students preparing to enter the job market is likely to be ineffective. In other words, education systems are preparing workers for a world of work that is ceasing to exist [5].
These changes are requiring the adoption of new measures aimed at qualifying the workforce, who must know how to use technology as a complement, a tool, and not as a substitute for their skills. Some functions are assigned to intelligent machines and systems. New functions for human beings emerge in this new scenario. It is up to education system planners to identify the role of human beings in the world of work in a future with the presence of intelligent machines to carry out a broad revolution in teaching at all levels, including the qualification of teachers and the structuring of teaching units to prepare their students for a world of work in which people will have to deal with intelligent machines. The curricula of teaching units at all levels must be profoundly restructured to achieve these objectives [5].
To adapt to changes in the economy and society driven by technological advancement, a revolution in education systems is already taking place in the contemporary era with regard to the adoption of new teaching methodologies such as those described below [6]:
1. Classrooms – Instead of being intended for theory, the classrooms will aim for practice. The student learns the theory at home and practices in the classroom with the help of a teacher/mentor.
2. Personalized learning – Students will learn with tools that adapt to their own abilities, being able to learn at different times and locations. This means that above average students will be challenged with exercises that are more difficult and those with more difficulty will have the opportunity to practice more until they reach the desired level. This process will make teachers better able to clearly see what type of help each student needs.
3. Free choice – Students will have the freedom to modify their learning process, choosing the subjects they want to learn based on their own preferences and will be able to use different devices, programs and techniques that they deem necessary for their own learning.
4. Practical applicability – Knowledge will not just remain in theory, it will be put into practice through projects so that students acquire mastery of the technique and also practice organization, teamwork and leadership.
5. EQ > IQ (emotional quotient > intelligence quotient) – Since technology brings more efficiency and is increasingly replacing human work in various areas, training must include the presence of essentially human skills and further value the social interactions. Schools must provide more opportunities for students to acquire real-world skills that will make a difference in their jobs. This means more space for work programs, more collaborative projects, more practice.
6. The assessment system will change – Many argue that the way the question and answer system in exams is not effective, as many students just memorize the content and forget it the next day after the assessment. Furthermore, this system does not adequately assess what the student is actually capable of doing with that content in practice. Therefore, the tendency is for assessments to take place when carrying out real projects, with students executing their projects.
Professor José Moran, one of the founders of the Escola do Futuro Project at USP (University of São Paulo), researcher and designer of innovative projects in education with an emphasis on values, active methodologies, flexible models and digital technologies, considers that the education of the future should have the following characteristics [7]:
1. A single model, proposal, path for education should not be adopted. Working with challenges, with real projects, with games seems to be the most important path today, which can be done in different ways and in different contexts. It´s possible to teach through problems and projects in a disciplinary model and in models without isolated disciplines; with more open models – with a more participatory and procedural construction – and with more scripted models, prepared in advance, planned in their smallest details.
2. Some components are fundamental to the success of learning: the creation of challenges, activities, games that really bring the necessary skills to each stage, that request pertinent information, that offer stimulating rewards, that combine personal journeys with meaningful participation in groups, that are part of adaptive platforms, that recognize each student and at the same time learn from interaction, all using appropriate technologies. The articulator of the individual and group stages is the teacher, with his ability to monitor, mediate, analyze the processes, results, gaps and needs, based on the paths taken by students individually and as a group. This new role of the teacher is more complex than the previous one of transmitting information. You need preparation in broader skills, in addition to knowledge of the content, such as knowing how to adapt to the group and each student; plan, monitor and evaluate significant and different activities.
3. Teaching and learning can be done in a much more flexible, active way and based on the rhythm of each student. The most interesting and promising model for using technology is to concentrate basic information in the virtual environment and the more creative and supervised activities in the classroom. The combination of learning through challenges, real problems, games is very important so that students learn by doing, learn together and also learn at their own pace. It is also decisive in valuing the role of the teacher as a manager of rich processes of meaningful learning and not as a simple transmitter of information. If we change the mentality of teachers to be mediators, they can use nearby resources, simple technologies, such as those on a cell phone, a camera to illustrate, a free program to combine images and tell interesting stories with them and for students to be authors, protagonists of their learning process.
4. The challenges of changing education are structural. It is necessary to increase the number of quality schools, schools with good managers, teachers and infrastructure, that can motivate students and that truly promote meaningful, complex and comprehensive learning. There needs to be a career plan, training and appreciation for educational managers and teachers. Consistent training policies are needed to attract the best teachers, pay them well and qualify them better, and innovative management policies that bring successful management models to basic and higher education.
5. Educators need to learn to fulfill themselves as people and as professionals, in precarious and difficult contexts, learn to always evolve in all fields, to be more affectionate and at the same time know how to manage groups. They must become inspiring and motivating educators.
The management and existing infrastructure of an educational unit are important in teaching at any level. However, the success of student learning depends on the teacher who, in the education of the future, would no longer be a mere passer of information to students and would take on the role of articulator of teaching in individual and group activities with his ability to monitor, mediate, to analyze the processes, results, gaps and needs, based on the paths taken by students individually and as a group. It is proven worldwide that the teacher is the key to quality teaching and, therefore, improving student performance.
REFERENCES
- BITTAR, Marisa. A História da educação. Da Antiguidade à era contemporânea. São Carlos: EduFScar, 2009.
- SERENNA, Nathalia. História da educação no mundo e no Brasil. Available on the website <https://www.jusbrasil.com.br/artigos/historia-da-educacao-no-mundo-e-no-brasil/605451719>.
- GALOR, Oded. A Jornada da Humanidade. Rio de Janeiro: Intrinseca, 2023.
- ALCOFORADO, Fernando. A educação à distância no Brasil e no mundo. Available on the website <https://pt.slideshare.net/falcoforado/a-educao-distncia-no-brasil-e-no-mundo?from_search=0>.
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* Fernando Alcoforado, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, of the SBPC- Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science and of IPB- Polytechnic Institute of Bahia, engineer from the UFBA Polytechnic School and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, college professor (Engineering, Economy and Administration) and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business planning, regional planning, urban planning and energy systems, was Advisor to the Vice President of Engineering and Technology at LIGHT S.A. Electric power distribution company from Rio de Janeiro, Strategic Planning Coordinator of CEPED- Bahia Research and Development Center, Undersecretary of Energy of the State of Bahia, Secretary of Planning of Salvador, is the author of the books Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018), Como inventar o futuro para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019), A humanidade ameaçada e as estratégias para sua sobrevivência (Editora Dialética, São Paulo, 2021), A escalada da ciência e da tecnologia e sua contribuição ao progresso e à sobrevivência da humanidade (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2022), a chapter in the book Flood Handbook (CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida United States, 2022), How to protect human beings from threats to their existence and avoid the extinction of humanity (Generis Publishing, Europe, Republic of Moldova, Chișinău, 2023) and A revolução da educação necessária ao Brasil na era contemporânea (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2023).
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