Giuseppe Allievo e la libertà d'insegnamento

The fight for literacy in Italy progressed from the Nineteenth century through politics of centralization and State control in the education system. If, on the one hand, the State monopoly of education favoured the nationalization of the masses, linguistic homogenization and the cultural unification of a still politically divided country with high illiteracy rates, on the other hand, the outcome was that teaching was standardized, competition among educational institutions was discouraged and the freedom of families in choosing education for their children was compromised. As a consequence, in the pedagogical debate, freedom of education, of which Giuseppe Allievo, professor of education at the University of Turin between 1867 and 1912 was one of the main supporters, emerged as a central theme. The article aims to illustrate, within Allievo's pedagogical systematic reflection, his views on educational freedom and his criticism of the Italian school system and teaching.