State Education and Catholic Enlightenment in Austrian Lands

Simon Malmenvall

State Education and Catholic Enlightenment in Austrian Lands

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62983/rn2865.24a.3

Key words:General School Ordinance (1774), Maria Theresa, Enlightenment, reform Catholicism in Austrian lands, history of elementary education

Abstract:
Mass accessible state primary education, without which it is impossible to imagine life in modern societies, began to be established in present-day Slovenia, which was part of Habsburg Austria, at the end of the eighteenth century. Synthesis between Enlightenment ideas, state authorities, and ecclesiastical organizations was key to the expansionof the school network and literacy. The situation in Austrian lands and other Central European environments shows that the social role of education was strengthened by the reform types of Christianity, which, based on the desired harmony between the Church and the state, strove to create a rational, diligent, and morally responsible individual.

PDF