THE THE CHARTER OF JUNE 28, 1759: WHICH REFORM FOR EDUCATION?

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to analyze a reform of studies from the Royal Charter of June 28, 1759. This Royal Charter extinguished the schools regulated by the Jesuit method, establishing a new regime that established a Director of Studies, teachers of Latin Grammar, Greek and the teaching of Rhetoric. The method used for the investigation was historical interpretation as defined by Jörn Rüssen. Laerte de Carvalho and Carlota Boto corroborated the Pombaline reform understandings and Sérgio Rouanet with the Enlightenment concept. The sources are the Royal Charter of June 28, 1759, laws and royal decrees accessed in virtual collections, whether Portuguese or Brazilian. Based on the analyses, we highlight that Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the Marquês de Pombal, extinguished the regular schools governed by the Jesuit method while he sourced a new regime based on ideas such as Dom Luís da Cunha (1662-1749), António Nunes Ribeiro Sanches (1699-1785) and Luís António Verney (1713-1792), creating regias or separate ones. The ideal associated with the Enlightenment is highlighted, for example, with the main objective of the Pombaline Reforms of Public Instruction, which was the development of a secular public school, to the detriment of an ecclesiastical school. We conclude that from 1759 onwards, there was a front corresponding to the reforms that took place in minor studies from the Alvará, and in 1772 there was a front corresponding to the reforms that took place in major or university studies.