Gramsci and the School Reforms of Idealism

Abstract

Gramsci’s engagement with the “school reforms of Idealism” is developed in the Prison Notebooks at various levels of complexity. Alongside his precise evaluation of Casati’s educational model as a «rational scheme» (as it is an expression of its time), Gramsci also considers Giovanni Gentile’s School Reform of 1923 and the subsequent amendments introduced by the 1929 Concordat. He offers three main criticisms of Gentile’s reform. Firstly, he discusses the theoretical foundations of actualist pedagogy, viewing it as an anachronistic revival of the “spontaneity” theory initiated by Rousseau. Secondly, he critiques the organisational system of Gentile’s school, contrasting it with his concept of the “scuola unitaria”. Thirdly, he views the introduction of Catholic religious instruction in primary schools as the State’s initial capitulation to the Church, a process that would be fully realised with the Concordat.