Educação e catolicismo: a construção de um modelo de professor e as apropriações católicas da Escola Nova a partir de Everardo Backheuser (1928-1946)

Abstract

The objective of this dissertation is analyzing the pedagogical manuals written by Everardo Backheuser (1879-1951), intending to identify the desirable model of catholic teacher that is expressed in them, as well as the catholic appropriations of the New School systematized in them. In specific terms it is presented the trajectory of this catholic intellectual as well as his contributions to the renovation of the catholic Pedagogy in Brazil. It was delimited for this study the period between 1928 and 1946, respectively the year of his conversion to catholicism and the year of publication of the last manual analyzed here. The manuals that were used as primary sources were: Aritmética na Escola Nova (1933), Técnica da Pedagogia Moderna (teoria e prática da Escola Nova) (1934), Ensaio de Biotipologia Educacional (1941), and O Professor (1946). These manuals were the most important written by the author in question in the area of Pedagogy; Here analyzed as part of the political strategy of the catholic intellectuality in the educational field. To interpret the mode as Backheuser, from his appropriation of the New School, he acted as a mediator intellectual by producing his pedagogical manuals in contact with other intellectuals connected to the Church, two known key-concepts are employed: the concept of strategy, starting by Michel de Certeau; and the concept of appropriation, starting by Roger Chartier. The manuals were conceived and directed to the initial and continued formation of teachers from the primary school, and they were very effective in their reach, including, surpassing the exclusive group of the catholic teachers. It was used as a theoretical and methodological reference the content analysis by Laurence Bardin; and also, in a complementar way, to discuss the intellectual trajectory, the conversion to catholicism and Backheuser’s actuation in different social fields, especially in the educational field, we used concepts created by Pierre Bourdieu, notably the concepts of field, of habitus and of different kinds of capital – economic, cultural, social and symbolic. As results of the investigation it was verified that Everardo Backheuser was a renewer of the catholic Pedagogy in Brazil, by mean of his contributions for teacher training, especially from his pedagogical manuals. He was a member of the Brazilian Association until 1932, and after leaving he was one of the founders of the Brazilian Catholic Confederation of Education in 1933. For Backheuser, the teachers should be educators, contributing then to the integral education of students. The integral formation was understood from the Structuralism by Spranger, what made his appropriation of the New School very particular. Among the characteristics that were desirable in teachers were the authority, the continuous study, optimism, “being an example” and the spirit of cooperation and initiative. Among his appropriations from the New School methodes the recommendations for the work with the excursions and the investment in the production of scholar museums stood out.