author
Augusto Joaquim Alves dos Santos
1866–1924
A key figure in Portuguese education during the early 20th century, he wrote thoughtfully about teaching, child development, and school reform. His work links the classroom to the larger social changes of Portugal's First Republic.
1 Audiobook
Educação nova: As bases
by Augusto Joaquim Alves dos Santos
About the author
Born in Cabração, Ponte de Lima, on October 14, 1866, Augusto Joaquim Alves dos Santos became known as a Portuguese educator, pedagogue, and public intellectual. He studied at the Seminary of Braga and later at the University of Coimbra, where he completed a degree in Theology. Over time, he moved beyond a purely clerical path and became associated with republican and reformist ideas.
He taught and worked in Coimbra, where he played an important role in education and teacher training. Sources on his career describe him as a professor and a defender of educational renewal, with a strong interest in how children learn and develop. His best-known book, Educação nova: As bases, reflects that interest by bringing together biological, psychological, and social views of childhood in order to rethink schooling.
Alves dos Santos died in Coimbra on January 17, 1924. Today he is remembered less as a literary celebrity than as a serious builder of modern Portuguese pedagogy, someone who tried to connect ideas, institutions, and everyday teaching practice.