Ideias de Xavier Júnior sobre o jardim de infância da Paraíba na primeira república

Abstract

The present work is based on the ideas of Francisco Xavier Júnior, about the education of young children in kindergartens, in the Paraíba of the First Republic. The general objective of the research is to understand the need to implement education for young children in Paraíba, indicated in the public instruction reports published by Xavier Júnior, from 1908 to 1913. The specific objectives are: to identify the conceptions on which the ideas of kindergartens were based; to discuss instruction ideas for young children; to analyze the proposal of professor Xavier Júnior about the first kindergartens in Paraíba. The methodological aspects are supported by surveys of sources found in the Historical and Geographic Institute Paraibano, through researches in the Reports of Presidents of Provinces published by Francisco Xavier Júnior, joining with other sources. To that end, it is in our interest to have a better understanding of how education was debated in the first republican period and the link between school and nation. The initial mark of our cut was that of 1908, because on that date Xavier Júnior published the first report on education in Paraíba, and the final date was the year 1913, since it is the last report found that was written by Xavier. Therefore, Xavier Júnior not only demonstrated the negative aspects in which the public education was found, specifically in the structure of the place, in inspection, in inappropriate materials, in the teaching staff but, above all, triggered a debate surrounded by justifications that could consider the necessity of to create a kindergarten in Paraíba.