History of a teaching practice: dictation in elementary school programs from the unification of Italy to the advent of fascism [Storia di una pratica d’insegnamento. Il ‘dettato’ nei programmi didattici della scuola elementare dall’unità all’avvento del fascismo]

A historical review of the practice of dictation from the Unification of Italy to the present day brings us to understand the reasons why such practice is still widespread in Italian primary schools. An analysis spanning from the 1860 Programs to the 1905 Orlando Law allows us to highlight those indications and reflections on how to carry out dictation that, more than a century later, are still widely in use. If, at the beginning of the nascent unitary state, dictation was the privileged instrument for teaching the Italian language to a population which was mostly illiterate and speaking a multiplicity of dialects, in the early 1900s it began to assume different characteristics, opening the way to ideological dictation typical of the Fascist era.