Teaching of Literature in the Portuguese Democratic School
An Analysis of Curriculum and Programmatic Documents
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25749/sis.44885Keywords:
teaching of Literature, curriculum, secondary education, Portugal, analysis of documentsAbstract
The schooling of the literary as a vehicle for consolidating a national narrative was intensively promoted in Portuguese schools during the Estado Novo (1933–1974). This model was challenged by emerging educational movements from the 1970s. Five decades after the democratic transition resulting from the Carnation Revolution [Revolução dos Cravos] (1974), we analyse curricular documents that guided Literature teaching in secondary education during this period, employing the method of thematic content analysis. Our objective is to characterise the curricular panorama of Literature teaching in Portugal by identifying the theoretical-methodological trends and socio-political tensions that marked the field’s development between 1974 and 2025. The results indicate that Literature teaching evolved over these years through the accumulation of distinct — and sometimes dissonant — theoretical currents and social interests, while maintaining the primacy of its role as a disseminator of a legitimised cultural heritage used to legitimise an idealised national identity.
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