The expansion of primary education in an industrialising economy: Catalonia in the age of mass schooling (1860-1930)

This paper studies the main patterns and trends observed in primary education in Catalonia between 1860 and 1930. The information gathered from official education statistics makes it possible to track several primary education variables over time, including pupils, schools, teachers and public spending, at 10-year intervals, broken down by public and private schooling and by gender. This study, which is primarily descriptive in nature, provides new quantitative evidence that highlights the difficulties faced by the public provision of primary education in achieving progress in Catalonia during those years, the significant expansion of private education, the disparities between rural and urban areas (where demographic pressure on the education system was greater), and the advances and setbacks in achieving gender equality. Together, the findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how a society—in this case, Catalonia—coped with the challenge posed by the spread of mass schooling during the early stages of industrialisation, within a backward institutional framework typical of Southern Europe’s peripheral regions.