What teachers need to teach their pupils and parents their children. Didacticism in an 18th century Catholic Directory

Abstract

The author presents the Directorio Catholico y Declaracion de la Doctrina Christiana [Catholic Directory and Declaration of the Christian Doctrine] by Vicente Sebastián, a text that describes the system of societal values, civility, citizenship, the role of the family, and of teachers. Published in the 18th century, it is a precursor of the manuals published over the 19th and 20th centuries until the arrival of the Organic Law on the General Organisation of the Education System [LOGSE]. For educators, and for the history of education, the most outstanding content is made up of chapter vi of the Second part, «parents’ obligations regarding their children and servants»; the seven chapters of the second Treatise, «advice on civility and bringing up children»; chapters i and ii, «concerning the teacher for good teaching and education». Its pedagogical foundation is a summary of «the education of body and soul» and is presented as a comprehensive summary for parents and educators. Interesting contributions include: its systematism, its structuration, approaching the utilitarian sense of education that was held in the age of Enlightenment and drawing close, as a precedent, to Rousseaunian naturalism in defending the need for education in keeping with the abilities of the child and with the obligation of getting to know their nature by using practices based on reality. In short, the Directory demonstrates the ritualization and regulation of life processes, by revealing the codes that have been handed down over the last three centuries.

Key words: values, catechisms, civility, family, morality, social code, education, teacher.