Education and women in the Early and Modern Age a.y. 2025-2026 – Scienze dell'Educazione e della Formazione (EDU)

Teacher: Prof.ssa Giuseppina D’Antuono
E-mail: giuseppina.d.antuono@uniroma2.it

CFU: 6
Course code: 804003105
Bachelor Degrees: Scienza dell’Educazione e della Formazione
Language: Italian

Course delivery modalities: in-presence
Attendance: Optional
Assessment method: Oral examination

Pre-requisites:
No prerequisites

Program:
Education and Women in the Early and Modern Age The course will examine certain epoch-making historical processes that led to the genesis first of boarding schools and educandati, then of Girls’ Schools in the modern age. During the course we will answer the twofold question “what and how girls studied in the modern age”. It will be important to analyze the building blocks of the modern educational system: the places of education, the subjects assigned to these functions, the programs . We will go into the female patterns of life that led to the genesis of the contemporary education system and the nineteenth-century schoolmistress.

Program:

Education and Women in the Early and Modern Age
The course will examine certain epoch-making historical processes that led to the genesis first of boarding schools and educandati, then of Girls’ Schools in the modern age. During the course we will answer the twofold question “what and how girls studied in the modern age”. It will be important to analyze the building blocks of the modern educational system: the places of education, the subjects assigned to these functions, the programs . We will go into the female patterns of life that led to the genesis of the contemporary education system and the nineteenth-century schoolmistress.

Text books:
Martine Sonnet, L’educazione di una giovane in G. Duby-M. Perrot, Storia delle donne, Roma-Bari, Laterza, pp. 119-154; A. Bianchi – G. Rocca (a cura di), L’educazione femminile tra Cinque e Settecento, “Annali di storia dell’educazione e delle istituzioni scolastiche”, n. 14 (2007).

Bibliography:
G. Zarri, Le istituzioni dell’educazione femminile, in Ead., Recinti. Donne, clausura e matrimonio nella prima età moderna, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2000, 145-200.

Educational goals and expected learning outcomes:
LEARNING OUTCOMES: the course focuses on the history of female education in the early and modern age. Basic is the historical concept of education, as distinct from education and declined in the feminine. Women’s education will be observed in the social contexts of modern Europe. KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: acquire a good knowledge of some main aspects of the history of education reserved for women from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century in a broad diachronic perspective. APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:To know how to analyze key historical phases marked according to a chronological and thematic narrative. MAKING JUDGEMENTS:the student should gain cognizance of the complexity of the relationships between long lasting mentalities and novelties in the factual gestations of the women’s education system in a critical way. COMMUNICATION SKILLS:a good command of historical categories LEARNING SKILLS:Critical assimilation of historical processes and dynamics of modernity.

Educational goals and expected learning outcomes:

LEARNING OUTCOMES: the course focuses on the history of female education in the early and modern age. Basic is the historical concept of education, as distinct from education and declined in the feminine. Women’s education will be observed in the social contexts of modern Europe.
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: acquire a good knowledge of some main aspects of the history of education reserved for women from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century in a broad diachronic perspective.
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:To know how to analyze key historical phases marked according to a chronological and thematic narrative.
MAKING JUDGEMENTS:the student should gain cognizance of the complexity of the relationships between long lasting mentalities and novelties in the factual gestations of the women’s education system in a critical way.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS:a good command of historical categories
LEARNING SKILLS:Critical assimilation of historical processes and dynamics of modernity.

Methods and criteria for verifying the learning:
The exam assesses the student’s overall preparation, the ability to combine knowledge about each part of the syllabus, the coherence of argumentation, the analytical ability, and the autonomy of judgment. In addition, the student’s command of language and clarity of presentation are also assessed, in adherence with the Dublin descriptors (1. knowledge and understanding; 2. applying knowledge and experience; 3. making judgments; 4. learning skills; 5: communication skills). The final grade will be based 70% on the student’s depth of knowledge and 30% on the student’s ability for expression (written and oral) and independent critical thinking.

Methods and criteria for verifying the learning:

The exam assesses the student’s overall preparation, the ability to combine knowledge about each part of the syllabus, the coherence of argumentation, the analytical ability, and the autonomy of judgment. In addition, the student’s command of language and clarity of presentation are also assessed, in adherence with the Dublin descriptors (1. knowledge and understanding; 2. applying knowledge and experience; 3. making judgments; 4. learning skills; 5: communication skills).
The final grade will be based 70% on the student’s depth of knowledge and 30% on the student’s ability for expression (written and oral) and independent critical thinking.

Attendance modalities:
Lectures, constant use of sources and administration of power points. During the course, some meetings will be devoted to the genesis of democratic culture through seminar work and discussion around the following text G. Zarri, Le istituzioni dell’educazione femminile, in Ead., Recinti. Donne, clausura e matrimonio nella prima età moderna, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2000, 145-200.