Calvinist school in Belarus at the end of XVII – in the third quarter XVIII century

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of the activity of Calvinistic educational institutions in Belarus from the end of the XVII until the third quarter of the XVIII century, a period which has not been thoroughly studied in historical science as of yet. The following aspects were analyzed: the history of individual schools and the reasons for the closure of some of them; Synod's educational activities; filling of staff positions; the functioning of aluminates; women’s level of education. It is noted that the events of the late 1760s only worsened the position of individual Calvinist educational centers. The most important achievements of Protestants in the field of education were: full independence in the field of education from schools of other faiths; the creation of a centralized school management system; pedagogical innovations in the spirit of the Enlightenment; practice-oriented organization of the educational process; underlined civil patriotic undertones of training.