History of education in Wales (1701–1870)

The period between 1701 and 1870 saw an expansion in access to formal education in Wales, though schooling was not yet universal.

During the 18th century, various philanthropic efforts were made to provide education to children from poorer backgrounds—schools established by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), circulating schools, Sunday schools and endowed elementary schools. In the early-to-mid 19th century, day schools were established which aimed to provide a basic education and began to receive state funding from 1833. A controversial report was published by the government on the use of the Welsh language in education in 1847; the language was largely excluded from the education system in the mid-19th century. Grammar schools continued to exist but experienced various difficulties, and by the end of the period provision of secondary education was very limited. Dissenter academies and later theological colleges offered a higher level of education during this period. Girls' involvement in elementary and secondary education increased during this period; but remained more limited than boys.

18th century schooling

See also: Georgian era

Elementary education

Sporadic religiously motivated attempts by members of the wealthier classes to develop mass literacy in the later 17th century continued in the 18th century with significantly more success. Historian Malcolm Seaborne argues that this was a result of the "new religious outlook", which had developed out of the upheavals of the 16th and 17th centuries, having a growing influence on the attitudes of the general public. The value of schools for the poor in the eyes of their founders was the religious and moral education of the masses as well as preparation for work. More idealistic arguments about uplifting the poor through knowledge and religion began to be made towards the end of the century. In 18th-century England and Wales, schools were operated by private businesses, charities and the Church, and became reasonably common. According to historian W. B. Stephens, charity schools in Wales tended to have a particularly heavy emphasis on religion, reflecting the preferences of the Welsh peasantry.

In the early 18th century, many charity schools were established with the support of the SPCK, but later foundings tended to be associated with the "circulating [travelling] school movement" which originated in Wales. The second group catered for both children and adults. 96 SPCK schools were established by 1714. The SPCK schools attempted to assist the poorest families to reduce the financial sacrifice of sending a child to school. An aspect of the schools that was very popular was their emphasis on training children in the skills they would need in life: for instance working with textiles for girls and farm work or seafaring for boys. This even extended to arranging apprenticeships for boys and attempting to watch over them after they left school. The schools also attempted to inculcate certain moral values and a sense of their class position into children, but this was deemed less necessary in Wales where people were already particularly socially divided. However because of the government's fear of a largely imagined threat of Jacobitism in Wales, the Welsh SPCK schools had an especially heavy emphasis on religion. The circulating schools were developed by Griffith Jones, a priest in the Church of England. The schools would only teach the ability to read, with other subjects forbidden. They would run for three months during the period when demand for labour was lowest, usually winter. Accommodation would be found wherever available: even barns were used if necessary. Jones believed that a mass educational project was better than a higher-quality selective one. He received donations from various patrons, many of whom were English as well as Welsh. He informed them about the progress of the schools through an annual publication Welch Piety. Historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne Roderick commented on the success of the schools:

The circulating schools were among the most important educational experiments anywhere in Europe in the eighteenth century. Between 1731 and 1761 it has been estimated that 3,325 schools were held and as many as 250,000 scholars—something like half the population of children and adults−taught to read. Within this limited definition, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the schools were responsible for making Wales a literate nation, and the fame of the schools was widespread throughout Europe... the spread of reading skills on this scale not only rested on the provision of religious literature but also fostered a demand for it... The Bible became a desired and precious possession in innumerable households across Wales, among even the poorest sections of society.

Old school building dating from 1765 in Tremeirchion now a village hall

By the late 18th century the circulating schools had largely faded away, replaced by Sunday schools. These developed from the 1780s onwards. Early Sunday schools tended to admit adults as well as children. In Wales, they were generally nonconformist and often associated with the Methodist revival. Welsh Sunday Schools tended to focus on religion and reading, avoiding the wider secular education sometimes taught at Sunday Schools elsewhere. 79 endowments for elementary schools in Wales were made by individuals between 1700 and 1800. Most were made by non-church officials and some were made by women, providing a slight increase in the availability of education for poorer girls. The schools were spread across all counties; Denbighshire had the greatest number. Usually they consisted of a single schoolroom, but there was an increase in specially built multi-storey accommodation towards the end of the century. However they often used other facilities such as religious buildings, the schoolmaster's house or market buildings. The various new forms of education targeted at the poor were not without their critics. Some people, even among those who gave them financial support, worried that the peasantry was being over-educated and exposed to disruptive ideas, especially towards the end of the 18th century.

Historian W. B. Stephens wrote that a number of commercially-run schools aimed at the working classes and organised by people of the same social background also existed. Dame schools were intended for very young children and often taught little. Common day schools taught an elementary-level curriculum to a slightly older age range. Schools in these groups were common across Britain and becoming more widespread. A number of these schools existed in Wales—for instance in 1739, a "a poor mangy person" in Henllan Amgoed, Carmarthenshire was said to run a school where "scholars were poor men’s children"—though information about them is quite limited.

Grammar schools

There was a certain degree of decline in grammar schools during this period, though there was some evidence of an increase in demand. Some of them disappeared or declined into elementary schools. The gentry had become smaller, wealthier and more detached from the lands they owned; they tended to prefer to send their sons to the English public schools and were less interested in financing grammar schools. The endowments made in the 16th and 17th centuries were increasingly financially inadequate, and enforced a classical education which seemed outdated to the parents of some potential pupils. Though learning Latin was still an important part of preparing to enter professions, especially the clergy.

Grammar schools became more reliant on their fee-paying pupils and frequently expanded with more accommodation for boarding pupils. This led to schools evolving into institutions closer to the modern idea of a public school, but this was more the case in England than in Wales. There was an expansion in the teaching of non-classical subjects in grammar schools, which seems to have often particularly benefited the wealthiest pupils. Commenting on the case of Friars School in Bangor, Seaborne quotes an unnamed historian as saying that "at this period there was in Friars more than at any previous time since the foundation of the school, a cliche of rich boys who enjoyed special tuition and privileges denied to the poorer scholars".

Mixed language use

Historian W. B. Stephens observed that in 18th-century charity schools, "the vernacular [local language] was used as a medium of instruction more readily [in Wales] than in Gaelic-speaking parts of Scotland". The typical medium of instruction in the SPCK schools was English but speaking Welsh in the schools was not restricted and over 12 schools in North Wales were conducted in Welsh. Jones and Roderick wrote that circulating schools used Welsh as their medium of instruction and aimed to teach the ability to read in Welsh only. Grigg states that English was used where it was the local preference. The Welsh language teaching was criticised by some of their patrons but the practice was defended by Griffith Jones. He argued that previous efforts at mass education had gained limited traction because they had been conducted in English at a time when Welsh was the sole language of a large majority of the Welsh peasantry. Endowments for 18th-century elementary schools sometimes specified Welsh or English as the language to be used but according to Seaborne, this did not always reflect the reality of how lessons were conducted. The Sunday schools established in Wales in the late 18th century were conducted in Welsh.

Early to mid-19th century schooling

See also: Modern history of Wales, Industrial Revolution in Wales, and Victorian era

Early 19th century

In the first half of the 19th century, education began to be seen as something of a civilising mission. A sense of anxiety was developing about the condition of the working classes in Wales, especially in the South Wales Valleys. The Industrial Revolution had brought significant social upheaval and children in particular were seen as newly vulnerable to immorality. However working-class parents were felt to be more interested in pursuing pleasure for themselves than educating the young. These worries were reinforced by various instances of significant social unrest concerning movements such as Chartism, Scotch Cattle and the Rebecca Riots. This was a time when the American Revolutionary War and French Revolution had shaken the Western world fairly recently; living conditions were extremely poor and there was a sincere fear of revolution. Schooling was believed to be an effective response to these problems. In an 1843 report, HMI H. W. Bellairs described a "band of efficient schoolmasters" as a cheaper alternative to "a body of police or of soldiery" to manage "an ill-educated, undisciplined population, such as exists among the mines of South Wales". There was, however, a degree of scepticism towards the idea of creating a state education system. Some saw schooling as a matter for the church, others believed that education was a form of charity rather than a right or thought that giving the state that amount of power over the upbringing of the next generation would be a threat to liberty.

In the early 19th century the British and Foreign School Society (which was Nonconformist) and the National Society for Promoting Religious Education (which was Anglican) were founded. These organisations began to establish "voluntary schools". In practice a large majority of voluntary schools belonged to the latter group which had various practical advantages. The schools attempted to maximise the children taught by using the monitorial system with older, more able pupils passing on information from their teacher to the other children. Schools tended to have an emphasis on strict discipline; corporal punishment and public humiliation was common. Teachers were untrained and some behaved sadistically; they were often people with health problems who were unable to take other work. However, most teachers did not make regular use of physical punishment. The threat was used as a deterrent; reinforcing adult authority and training children in obedience, an important goal of education at the time. Jones and Roderick give the following description of the curriculum of an Anglican voluntary school:

In Penley National School in Flintshire, for example, there were three classes. The lowest committed the Lord's Prayer and the alphabet to memory and learned the National Society's work cards. In the next class the children learned to write on slates, read a religious text and learn the Catechism. The top class read from the Bible and did simple number work.

While school participation rates in the early- to mid-19th century are somewhat hard to assess, a lower proportion of the population were enrolled in day schools in Wales than in England or Scotland. One estimate is that 85% of children in Wales between five and fifteen years old were not in day school in 1821. Sunday schools were often used as a substitute for full-time schooling. In 1844, 56% of grooms and 35% of brides were able to sign the marriage register in South Wales counties; this was lower than in any individual Scottish or English county. Also in 1844, 58% of grooms and 39% of brides in North Wales counties were able to do so, the ratio being lower than any Scottish or English county other than Monmouthshire (then part of England) and Staffordshire. Girls' education was given less importance than that of boys during this period and their participation in day schools was lower. The number of people who were able to write was also lower than those who could read, because reading was seen as a more basic skill which was taught first and tended to be more practically useful. According to historian W. B. Stephens:

... in Wales and Monmouthshire educational progress suffered from the difficulties Welsh speakers experienced in schools using English as the medium of instruction, from the absence of resident gentry, the weakness of the Church of England and the opposition of dissenters to its influence. This was compounded by widespread poverty and the expansion of coal mining.

Growing government involvement

School in Sketty, Swansea photographed by Augustus Lennox (1854)

From 1833 the voluntary schools began to receive government funding. In 1839 the Committee of the Privy Council on Education (CCE) was formed which conducted state inspections of schools receiving grants in England and Wales for the first time. For its first report in 1840, HMI Hugh Seymour Tremenheere visited 35 schools in mining areas of South Wales. He wrote that the schools were "‘for the most part, dirty and close [unventilated]" and one was "so filthy and disgusting that the inquiry had to be conducted from outside". Most of the schools were lacking in books and equipment while teachers maintained discipline using "loud exclamations and threats". In contrast, HMI Harry Longueville Jones was impressed by the quality of teaching he found on his first tour of 190 schools across Wales in 1849. He complimented various teachers as "very able", "studious", "clever", "well informed", "alert" and "well respected". He also noted a few teachers with exceptional abilities such as one working near Pwllheli who taught Latin to his most able pupils and another in Llanidloes whose "forte lies in his music".

In Wales the Anglican schools were reported to be poorly attended, as Nonconformists, who formed a clear majority of the Welsh population by the middle of the century, preferred private schools—although the proportion of day school pupils at private schools fell in Wales from 58% in 1833 to 26% in 1851. Officials and middle class opinion was critical of private schools aimed at the working classes, but G. R. Grigg, an academic, argues that they maintained significant appeal among their intended market. While their facilities were poorer than state-funded schools, they offered a familiar environment for children, were more responsive to the desires of parents and often offered a decent standard of basic instruction. Another form of elementary education available in this period were works schools run by industrialists for the education of the children of their workers.

An 1847 government report included lists of the subjects taught in every day school in Wales. The lists tended to focus heavily on reading, writing, arithmetic and religion. Some schools taught a wider range of subjects such as vocal music, grammar, drawing, geography and the history of England. The schools that did this were mainly works schools associated with the smelting industry in South Wales. The first teacher training colleges were established in Wales in the second half of the 1840s and it slowly became the norm for headteachers to trained. Joseph Lancaster, an educationalist whose theories were popular at the time, had encouraged schools to use methods of discipline focused on publicly identifying children who had misbehaved rather than physical punishment. Lancaster's ideas along with a wider change in public attitudes seems to have led to some decline in violent discipline in schools. The two voluntary societies were also expanded school provision significantly; the percentage of children at school in Wales increased from approximately 30% to approximately 48% during the 1850s. In 1863, a visitor to Llynfi Ironworks School, which had 800 pupils, recorded that...

I remember a long, wide room, sloping down gradually to the dais at the bottom, where the head-teacher ruled. Discipline was unduly harsh. The children were very mixed—Welsh, English and Irish. Several children were barefooted and pale. The curriculum was rather stereotyped and scanty. Reading, writing and arithmetic mostly. Very little history, and geography consisted of map-drawing and remembering names.

The Newcastle Commission led to the introduction of the Revised Code of 1862. The code introduced a system of payment by results, with grants given based on pupils' knowledge of the three Rs and attendance. The code has been praised for encouraging teachers to focus on academic skills rather than religion. The inspection day was a major event for schools; lessons might be extended in the run-up, the school would be cleaned and the children would be encouraged to dress well. Some inspectors were harshly critical and teachers might behave deceptively. There were various controversies about the behaviour of individual schools and inspectors. However, inspectors were generally lenient judges and believed that reducing a struggling school's funding was counterproductive. The large majority of children did pass the inspection exam but the test was largely one of memory.

Abergavenny Boys National School (1865)

In the 1860s there was growing political pressure in England and Wales for a significant intervention in the elementary education system. It was becoming increasingly clear that education provision through the voluntary societies was inadequate for a growing population. In Wales, at the end of the decade, there were school places for 60% of school-aged children, but with significant geographical variations. In Merthyr Tydfil places were available for only 22%. Meanwhile, there were concerns that rapidly industrialising France and Prussia, which had state education systems, were a threat to Britain's status as the world's most industrialised country. The Second Reform Act, which extended the franchise to a wider cross-section of the male population, led to worries about ignorant voters making unwise decisions. Elsewhere the American Civil War and Austro-Prussian War were won by powers with developed state education systems. In Wales, political pressure for change took the form of the Educational Alliance Society founded in 1870.

Secondary education

Advertisement for a secondary-level school in Aberystwyth (1879)

Secondary education provision during this period was very limited in Wales. The situation was much worse than in England, which was itself not particularly impressive by international standards. In the 1850s HMI Harry Longueville Jones argued for the creation of evening schools to teach maritime skills, given that many boys became sailors after leaving school. The Taunton Commission in 1868 noted that twenty towns in Wales, with an average population of 11,000, lacked grammar schools. The commission identified 28 boys' grammar schools with combined pupil numbers of 1,100. These schools tended to be located in areas that had once been focuses of the Welsh economy but were now far from the new population centres. As the aristocracy and the new industrial elite tended to employ tutors or send their sons to the English public schools, pupils were mainly the sons of the same middle-class group that had attended them since the 16th century, with the upper-middle classes drifting towards English boarding schools. 24 of the 28 were classified as giving classical or semi-classical education, which seemed outdated to parents of many potential pupils in a changed economy. The fees were too high for many middle-class households, and Nonconformists saw the schools as being under Anglican influence.

Meanwhile, girls were especially poorly catered for. The Howell Foundation had established two girls' schools in 1860 based on the endowment of a draper, which were mainly attended by Anglicans. An equivalent girls' school aimed at Nonconformists would not be founded until 1878. Some families also employed governesses for teenage girls. The Taunton Commission noted an apathy about their daughters' education among many middle-class parents. The role of a middle-class woman in the Victorian era was to act as a supportive figure for her family. Superficial "accomplishments", rather than serious academic study, were believed to be needed for girls. There were several private secondary schools for girls and boys. Some provided good quality education, but most were mediocre.

Exclusion of Welsh

See also: Linguistic discrimination

The day schools created by the voluntary societies in the early 19th century were usually conducted in English. Private working-class schools largely taught in English; a minority taught in both Welsh and English. In the first half of the 19th century, most working class people in Wales were solely Welsh speaking. Though, this was shifting in industrialising areas due to migration. Welsh speakers were keen for their children to learn English; knowing the language was felt to be a route to social mobility, made life more convenient and was a status symbol. The upper- and middle-classes in Wales, who generally spoke English, were also eager for the masses to learn the language. They believed it would contribute to Wales' economic development and that tenants or employees who could speak English would be easier to manage. Teaching English was therefore widely accepted as the main function of working-class schooling. As Welsh was a language associated with religion, it seemed natural for Welsh teaching to be kept in Sunday school.

Example of a Welsh Not displayed at St Fagans Museum

The Welsh Not was a form of discipline used at some schools. The details of the practice varied; in general, children would be given an object when they were caught speaking Welsh and pass it on if they heard another child speaking Welsh. The final child with the object at the end of the day would be punished. Martin Johnes, a historian who has studied the Welsh Not, wrote that the practice may have originated in early modern grammar schools which aimed to teach children Latin. Early accounts of the punishment date from the late 18th century but most accounts relate to the early to mid 19th century. Johnes believes it was probably widespread but not universal in the first half of the 19th century. It was seen as a way to teach English by immersing children in the language. The method also encouraged children to participate in enforcing discipline by listening for peers speaking Welsh and was a way to keep solely Welsh-speaking children silent. A few schools are know to have used a "Talk Not" which applied to all speaking. Accounts of children being beaten for speaking Welsh became less common after 1850; the penalty was increasingly likely to be non-physical where the Welsh Not was still used.

In the 1830s and 1840s, the Welsh language became increasingly associated in the eyes of the government with the social unrest taking place in Wales. In the early 1840s, "the government agreed to an inquiry into the state of education, especially into the means afforded the labouring classes of acquiring a knowledge of the English language". The report, released in 1847, caused great offence in Wales due to its negative depiction of the Welsh language and the moral character of the Welsh people—although it complimented the Welsh population's desire for education, their willingness to make sacrifices to acquire it, as well as their knowledge of religion and mathematics. Historian Gregg Russell describes its substance, aside from its insulting tone, as "a detailed picture of educational poverty". Historians Jones and Roderick wrote that the educational aspects of the report's criticism were broadly reasonable. They suggest that the writers of report, who were young university graduates, might have misinterpreted problems that affected working people across Britain as specifically Welsh defects.

The report depicts the Welsh language as a negative influence limiting the potential of the Welsh population. The report argued that much of the Welsh-speaking public was keen to learn English and that bilingualism in schools was the best way to teach it. Jones and Roderick argue that its attitude to the Welsh language was a reflection of the contemporary belief among the English middle classes that everyone in the Empire needed to learn standard English, rather than being a deliberate expression of anti-Welsh sentiment. The regional dialects of the English working classes were also criticised in other educational reports. At the time Nonconformists generally interpreted the report as an English and Anglican attack on the Welsh, while some Anglican churchmen criticised its tone.

The government never forbade the use of Welsh in schools. The 19th century British state had a fairly non-interventionist attitude towards society and that included not exerting much direct control over schools even as it became more involved in the education system. Officials did not tend to have a positive attitude towards the Welsh language but it was on the fringe of their concerns. By the middle of the 19th century, government investigations were indicating that many children were becoming literate in English without being able to understand what they were reading or writing. Excluding Welsh from lessons was not an effective way of teaching English though it is likely teachers were using some Welsh in lessons. Vocabulary was frequently taught through translation tests which was sometimes turned into a game; though this was too limited to have much benefit. Some teachers, especially the rising number of trained teachers, did make an effort to ensure Welsh-speaking children understood their work.

Dissenter academies and theological colleges

Oxford and Cambridge Universities fell into decline in the 18th century with a curriculum that had evolved little since medieval times, little academic focus, declining numbers and fewer opportunities for poorer students. A new form of senior-level education was also established. This originated from religious oppression, beginning in the Cavalier parliament in 1662, which led to several clergy members being ejected and impoverished. Some of whom established academies for dissenters who had been prevented by the repression from going to the universities. 23 of these institutions were established across England and Wales. The academies were originally established mainly to train future dissenter ministers, but they also attracted Anglicans who saw them as being of a better standard than universities. They taught a variety of subjects over four years of study including "classics, logic, Hebrew, mathematics, natural sciences, modern languages and medicine". The most well-known example in Wales was the Presbyterian Academy in Brynllywarch which later moved to Carmarthen. An indication of the kind of instruction given in the academy can be seen in guidance issued by the Presbyterian denominational board which contributed to the academy financially. In 1725 it warned prospective Presbyterian ministers that they would not receive employment...

unless it appears upon examination that they can render into English any paragraph of Tully's offices... that they read Psalm in Hebrew, translate into Latin any part of the Greek Testament... give a satisfactory account of their knowledge in the several sciences they studied at the Academy and draw up a thesis upon any question that will be proposed to them in Latin...

Engraving of a Calvinist Methodist college, Trefeca (1860)

These academies evolved into the theological colleges of the 19th century which were associated with Nonconformists. Witnesses to the Aberdare Committee in 1880 noted that many of the colleges' pupils were from the "common people" paying "little or nothing for their support". Often men would receive a minimal education as children and spend years in working class jobs, initially taking up preaching in their spare time, before studying in a theological college. Some graduates found work in occupations outside the ministry. The colleges could act as a stepping stone to higher education. With Oxford and Cambridge still maintaining a religious test until 1871, Scottish universities and affiliate college schemes run by the University of London were an option for Nonconformists. Meanwhile St David's College in Lampeter was founded in 1827 to educate future Anglican clergy. It was the first degree-issuing institution in Wales.

Bibliography

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