Portugal

The beginning of Portugal's history can be traced back to the twelfth century. The Iberian Peninsula was once a unified region. At the end of the eleventh century, Afonso VI, King of Leon, married his daughter Urraca to Count Raymond of Burgundy. His other daughter, Tareja, who was illegitimate, was married to Henry of Burgundy. As a wedding gift, Count Raymond of Burgundy received the region of Galicia, the second area between the Minho and the Tagus, called Condado Portucalense. When Afonso VI died, military and political struggles took place in the Christian kingdoms. Afonso Henriques, son of Tareja, had the necessary military forces to achieve independence. Portugal became an autonomous country in 1143 and Afonso Henriques received the title of king in 1179.

Public instruction took place in the cathedrals, Episcopal churches, convents and monasteries. Reading, writing, and grammar were taught in Latin, but it was spoken only by a few religious people and ambassadors from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. It was necessary to have vocabularies in both Latin and Portuguese. During the reign of King Dinis (1279-1325), Portuguese was declared the official language. The first written texts in Portuguese, mainly translations from Latin texts, appeared in the beginning of the thirteenth century. People were taught through oral transmission: cantigas (songs composed by troubadours), chivalry novels, sermons and proverbs. D. Dinis founded the first Portuguese university in Lisbon in 1290, moving it to the city of Coimbra in 1308.

In 1385, with the Master of Avis, King John I, the epoch of world exploration starts. The focus of the feudal system changed to commerce. This social transformation brought a new conscience, best described as "man has a creative power that enables him to dominate the universe." In order to achieve this transformation a person needed knowledge. In addition to reading and writing, the merchants living in Oporto and Lisbon acquired the ability to count.

The sixteenth century was the golden age of world exploration. In the kingdom of John III (1521-57) the university, which had been moved back to Lisbon, once more returned to Coimbra (1537) and the Colégio das Artes (School of Arts) was created. Teachers and masters were recruited from France. Latin, Greek, Hebrew, mathematics, logic, and philosophy were taught. The philosophy of Aristotelic rationalism replaced the previous medieval theology. With the death of André de Gouveia, head of the school, a crisis began, and in 1555 the management of the school was handed over to the Companhia de Jesus (Company of Jesus), and became a center of theological studies. Primary and secondary schools were established and mainly maintained by religious congregations.

An organized censorship was introduced by the Spanish Inquisition in 1540. Inquisition, censorship, and the Jesuit education intervened in the cultural development of the country. Writings of well-known authors such as Gil Vicente, Luis de Camo~es, and Bernardim Ribeiro were considered against the faith and good customs. The Portuguese language became more grammatically established when João de Barros wrote the Gramática da Língua Portuguesa in 1540.

With Portuguese exploration, there was an overseas expansion to Africa, Asia, and South America. The chief discovery was Brazil in 1500. Primary schooling was started there, primarily to convert the natives. Father Antonio Vieira, the most famous author of Baroque prose, was sent to Brazil principally for this purpose.

A change of mentality occurred in the eighteenth century, with the theories of the Enlightenment. This intellectual movement of renovation started in England and reached its high point with the French revolution. The ideas and philosophy of Diderot, D'Alembert, Voltaire, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau had great influence. Spanish influence was replaced by French, Italian, English, and German thinking.

Beginning in 1755, King Joseph (1750-77) with the help of his prime minister, the Marquis of Pombal, adopted foreign theories based on "reason." There was a direct intervention by the state on the teaching and cultural systems. Jesuits were forbidden to teach and were expelled from the country in 1759, and religious censorship was replaced by the Real Mesa Censória in 1768. Even religious charity institutions involved in teaching were replaced by a systematized education. The Marquis of Pombal was able to perform a complete renewal of the whole political and educational structure in 1755 due to an earthquake that destroyed the city of Lisbon. A new city was created in its place, and a renewal of the educational system was introduced. Luís Antonio Verney (1731-92) wrote O Verdadeiro Método de Estudar (1746), with the intention of ensuring that the following subjects would be taken into account in education: writing, languages, rhetoric, arithmetic, humanities, sciences, and dance. In 1768 the Escola de Comércio (Commercial School) started providing education for the bourgeois class. Females had access to school for the first time beginning in the eighteenth century, under the reign of Queen Mary I (1777-1816), who also founded the Academia Real das Ciências (Royal Academy of Sciences) and the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library). Educational progress was slow during the nineteenth century. With the introduction of journalism as a means of communication, reading became more important, although until 1900 the rate of illiteracy was about 80 percent. New schools continued to be opened, with institutions specializing in agriculture, medicine, and humanities (Faculdades de Letras). Free primary schooling was guaranteed by the constitutions of 1822 and 1926. Wellknown writers were engaged in improving education, and many composed books and essays with this purpose. Antonio Feliciano de Castilho contributed with Método Português Castilho (1850) and Felicidade pela Instrução (1854). João de Deus fought illiteracy with his Cartilha Maternal (1876). In the twentieth century major changes occurred. Elementary school was reformed in 1901. Instruction was divided into ensino infantil (preschooling) from the ages of 4 to 6; primeiro grau (elementary school), which was obligatory and free for both genders between the age of 6 and 12; and segundo grau (middle school), which was not obligatory but was paid. The republic was proclaimed in 1910, and a new Decreto (law) remodeled the educational system. Ensino primário (elementary school) was divided into elementary, which lasted for three years for children with a minimum age of seven; complementary, with a duration of two years for children beginning at age 10; and superior, three years for students beginning at age 12. When they graduated they could go to Escolas normais primárias (teaching schools for elementary education), or to regular courses in industrial, agricultural, commercial, or technical schools. Escolas móveis (mobile schools) were created where it was not possible to have permanent schools. The 1910 Decreto was replaced in 1919, at which time obligatory schooling was extended from three to five years, and elementary and complementary school were transformed into one course called ensino primário (elementary school) with obligatory attendance.

The Ministry of Public Instruction that had been created in 1913 was eliminated with in 1926 when the fascist regime Estado Novo (new state) of Antonio Oliveira Salazar took over the country. This regime ruled until 25 April 1974. In 1936 the livro único (sole book) was institutionalized for elementary education. Salazar closed the escolas móveis that had been important for adult literacy. He replaced the escolas normais superiores (higher normal schools) with cursos de ciências pedagógicas (pedagogical science programs) and the escolas normais primárias with the escolas de magistério primárias. The former schools were for women, the latter for both genders. In 1930 the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa was founded, uniting several colleges.

The Republic had given initial autonomy to women as to career and employment. Divorce was legalized, and in 1914 the Conselho das Mulheres Portuguesas (Council of Portuguese Women) was created to defend women's rights. Salazar's regime was a setback. Women who stayed at home were cherished, and in 1939 a law was introduced allowing men to make their wives return home in case they left them. From 1950 to 1960, Salazar introduced a law that prevented women from obtaining a passport or leaving the country without her husband's authorization.

Major changes took place with a 1974 coup (Revolução dos Cravos). The Portuguese speaking countries in Africa (Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, and the Islands of São Tomé and Príncipe) gained independence from Portugal. In 1975, one year of compulsory serviço cívico (civic service) became obligatory before entering the university. The Constitution of 1976 gave equal rights to both men and women without discrimination. In this same year coeducation became obligatory.

Marcelo Caetano, Salazar's successor, created the Ministry of Education, proposed the reform of the secondary school, and encouraged student repression. Teachers of elementary schools, in addition to their normal duties, had to perform other tasks such as teaching illiterate adults and functioning as agents of community development.

The government elected in 1991 began to emphasize modernization and decentralization. Some of its goals continued into the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. Portugal joined the European Common Market and sought to promote the Portuguese language and culture at home and abroad, to modernize public administration, and to give more local power to educational institutions by decentralization.