Inspetoria, fiscalização e controle da instrução pública em Pernambuco (1889 – 1911)

Abstract

Based on our observation of a set of positions arranged hierarchically to complement and effectively control and supervise education in Pernambuco, we note a significant concern among public authorities regarding teacher inspections at the turn of the 20th century. This study aims to analyze the composition and dynamics of Pernambuco's education control and inspection system between 1889 and 1911. We suggest doing three things. First, we should identify and analyze the dynamics of the creation and functioning of government positions and bodies for the inspection of education. Second, we should identify and analyze the main demands of the agents responsible for the control and supervision of education. Third, we should identify and analyze the discourses and conceptions about public teaching in the reports of the General Inspectors of Public Instruction. Finally, we should articulate these discourses with the relationships, conflicts, and disputes established between supervisory agents and teachers. The research will be conducted using a set of documentary sources currently held by the Jordão Emereciano Public Archives. These sources include the Municipal Council Codices, the Codices of Public Instruction, and the Codices of the Capital's Police Stations, the Various Courts Collection, the Public Prosecutors Collection, the Municipal Intendancy Fund, and a set of regulations, internal rules, and reports. Our analysis will focus on the period from 1889 to 1911. In addition to this defined collection, we will explore digitized newspapers from the Digital Newspaper Library on the National Library website, as well as a collection of 19th-century newspapers from Recife. We will analyze the sources based on the evidence found in these documents using Foucaultian theory and making correlations with investigations into historiographical practice from the perspective of the historiographical operation. We argue that government agents in Pernambuco were organized around a disciplinary apparatus during the aforementioned period. This apparatus was composed of different subjects and devices arranged in a complementary and hierarchical manner to effectively supervise and control public education. Our analysis will contribute significantly to the history of education by revealing the mechanisms of power, control, and mediation between the state and the various individuals who comprised the public teaching profession.