Salesian Preventive System is the educative method developed by the Salesians upon the pedagogical experience of Saint John Bosco with poor youngsters in 19th century Turin. It is based on three pillars: reason, religion and loving-kindness. Even if Don Bosco appears as the main representative of this method of education and formation of the young, other characters have contributed to its previous development like Philip Neri and Francis de Sales. It is also opposed to what Don Bosco refers in education as Repressive System of Education.[1]
Don Bosco wrote only one essay explaining his pedagogical method in 1877, The Preventive System in the Education of the Young,[2] that was included in the first Salesian Constitutions.
The history of the Salesian Preventive System can be traced in the life and apostolate of Saint John Bosco (1815 - 1888). During the second half of the 19th century, Don Bosco began a work among poor youth in Turin, especially those who were homeless, orphans and exploited by the labor system of the Industrial Revolution of the time.
As Don Bosco did not write extensively on the matter, the educational preventive system must be studied in the identity and actions of Don Bosco.[3] Carlo Nanni defined Don Bosco as a man of action rather than a scholar.
Studying about the preventive system in the education of the youth according Don Bosco and the Salesians, it is necessary to review the following works: