Debates regarding reading in kindergarten and the Argentinian primary school (1880-1975)

Abstract

Reading implies complex social and cultural practices that adopt specific characteristics when they are developed within educational institutions, constituting the so-called “school culture”.
The schooling of these practices entailed a multitude of debates throughout
history. In this article we will refer to four of them who characterized the Argentinian kindergarten and primary school since the origin of the educational system until the mid-1970s: the debates regarding the purpose of school reading, texts, the role of literature in school, the age of introduction to reading and its teaching methods.
Through the development of each of them we can visualize the nuances that differentiate the constitution of the school culture on the initial level from those of primary level, which is why we propose that the appearance of reading on the educational institution did not constitute a linear, homogeneous or unique process; Instead, each level built a history and dynamic of its own, and also generated a complex correlation with each other.