Development of Education, Upbringing, And Pedagogical Thought in Primary Classes from the 17th Century to The First Half of the 20th Century

Abstract

The article traces the long-term evolution of primary-school education from the advent of early modernity to the threshold of contemporary pedagogy. Drawing on published sources, archival materials, and comparative historiography, the study reconstructs how social change, philosophical currents, and institutional reforms reshaped the aims, content, and methods of elementary teaching. It shows that the transition from confessional schooling to Enlightenment rationalism, and later to the child-centered paradigms of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, transformed the teacher’s professional identity and recast the place of upbringing in the curricular whole. Particular attention is paid to the circulation of ideas across Europe, the Russian Empire, and the United States, revealing networks of influence that prepared the ground for modern universal primary education. The findings illuminate continuities and ruptures in didactic theory, underline the role of socio-economic factors, and illustrate how early initiatives anticipated later global norms.