Become teachers in Genoa in the Pre-Unitary decade

Abstract

In 1849 the Genoa City Council decided to open a new female primary school run by secular teachers, in addition to the two schools run by Congregation of the Philippines since the Eighteenth Century and teaching elements of Catholic doctrine, sewing, and rudimentary reading skills. The newly founded school needed teachers, but the Kingdom of Sardinia’s laws on education did not indicate a path for the training of female teachers. An appropriate training was organized by initiative of the City Council. The first course for female teachers in Genoa took place between the end of 1849 and the beginning of 1850. The number of women enrolled was high and included teachers who were already active on a private basis, would-be teachers, “family women,” “upper class maidens.” Despite some initial difficulties, this school became an established institution: to be more effective, it was preceded by a preparatory year in which the attendees, often only provided with minimal primary education, acquired some further, though still basic, intellectual tools. In 1857 the functioning of this school was considered satisfactory and subsequently modified to comply with the guidelines provided by the Casati Law. This paper analyses the curricula and methods of this school, the profiles of its attendees and teachers, the difficulties it encountered and the solutions it adopted to solve them.