The curriculum of Maltese primary schools under Canon Paolo Pullicino 1850 - 1880 : a historical account

Abstract

The attempt is to identify and reflect on the Primary Curriculum of Maltese schools under the Directorship of Canon Paolo Pullicino. The main objective of this dissertation was to place the reader within the spectrum of the socio, economic, educational and historical background during the late eighteenth and throughout the nineteenth centuries. The study was conducted between December and April 2006 and it was carried out in various documentation institutions. The research involved the use of primary and secondary sources. In addition, alternative readings for a general overview of the nineteenth century were carried out in order to develop a better understanding of the impact of the British Empire on the Maltese society. The approaches taken for this research was first to identify and understand the situation of the Maltese Islands as a British Colony and then to identify and classify the development and implementation of the Curriculum of Maltese Primary Schools under Canon Paolo Pullicino. This account focuses on the nineteenth century specifically from 1850 till 1880 and it attempts to explore and answer the impact that Canon Pullicino 's work had in the planning, development and implementation of the primary curriculum.