During the Spanish Golden Age, language was developing fast. An important debate on orthology and orthography was taking place at the time. Many authors posed different proposals for a reform of spelling. The arguments discussed in these works also included educational considerations in favour of their proposals, which makes them an invaluable source in the history of education in Spain. In this paper a number of books published between 1531 and 1631 are analysed in search of relevant ideas on literacy education, the teaching of reading and writing in primary schools, and the skills and training needed for primary teachers. Many of these ideas are surprisingly modern, and anticipate current views on literacy education that would not begin to be put into practice in Spain until the late nineteenth century.