History of education in Wales

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. While 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.[7] 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.[5] Schooling was believed to be an effective response to these problems. In an 1843 report HMI[note 2] H.W Belliars 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".[7] 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.[8]

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

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".[9] In practice a large majority of voluntary schools belonged to the latter group which had various practical advantages. In Wales the Anglican schools were reported to be poorly attended as Nonconformists,[9] who formed a clear majority of the Welsh population,[10] preferred private schools. Though the proportion of day school[note 3] pupils at private schools fell in Wales from 58% in 1833 to 26% in 1851.[9] Another form of elementary education available in this period were works schools run by industrialists for the education of the children of their workers.[8] 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.[9] One estimate is that 85% of children in Wales between five- and fifteen-years-old were not in day school in 1821.[7] 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. That year 58% of grooms and 39% of brides in North Wales counties were able to do so, this was lower than any Scottish or English county other than Monmouthshire (then part of England) and Staffordshire. The number of people who were able to write was lower than those who could read during this period because reading was seen as a more basic skill which was taught first and tended to be more practically useful for most people. According to historian T.B Stephens:[9]

... 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.

From 1833 the voluntary schools began to receive government funding.[11] 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". Contrastingly 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".[7] 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 history. The schools that did this were mainly works schools associated with the smelting industry in South Wales. In 1863 a visitor to Llynfi Ironworks School, which had 800 pupils, recorded that...[8]

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.[note 4] 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.[8]

Abergavenny Boys National School (1865)

The Newcastle Commission led to the introduction Revised Code of 1862. The code introduced a system of payment by results with grants given based on pupils' knowledge of the three R's and attendance. The code has been praised for its perceived objectivity as well as for encouraging teachers to focus on literacy and numeracy.[7][12] At times this system placed significant power over schools in the hands of individual inspectors in a way that could be quite arbitrary and lead to controversy. For instance, in his autobiography, HMI Sneyd-Kynnersley recalled 7-year-old Angharad who had told him she did not know the answer to a sum but who he decided to pass anyway due to her "frankness, combined with good looks". In a different case schoolmaster James Kelly left his job at St David’s Roman Catholic school in Cardiff after a poor inspection report in 1863. Unusually Kelly decided to formally complain to the Education Department alleging HMI John Reynell Morell spent less than 20 minutes in the school during which time the children were quiet before leaving after saying "I will make a report sufficient for the grant". Morell was dismissed (officially for missing appointments) following an investigation during which both men attacked each other's character. Morell privately published his own version of events. Historian Russell Grigg suggests that a possible explanation for his conduct was that he was responsible for inspecting schools across 17 counties in England and Wales. The system also created a temptation for corruption among teachers. For instance, upon a check of birth certificates, it was found that most of the pupils at Llwynypia Colliery Infant School were over the age of eight making it ineligible for certain grants for infant schools. The attendance records had also been falsified and the register destroyed in "a very suspicious circumstance". They had two-thirds of their grant removed and were given a warning.[7]

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 with significant geographic variances. 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 a developed state education system. In Wales political pressure for change took the form of the Educational Alliance Society founded in 1870.[13]

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

Secondary education provision during this period was poor for boys and worse for girls. The situation in Wales was much worse than in England which was itself lacking in comparison to the continent.[14] 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.[7] 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 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 themselves 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 the Howell Foundation had established two girls' schools in 1860 based on the endowment of a draper which were mainly attended by Anglicans. Some families also employed governesses for teenage girls. The Taunton Commission noted an apathy to 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.[14]

According to historian T.B Stephens the Elementary Education Act 1870 began the transition to compulsory education and a school system run directly by the state. However he describes it as a compromise which only started that process. It required school boards run by locally elected officials to be established in areas where there were "insufficient places in efficient voluntary schools" to run additional schools. The boards were allowed but not required to make education compulsory. A power that was extended to other districts in 1876.[9] Compulsory education was introduced for 5- to 10-year-olds across England and Wales by the Elementary Education Act 1880.[11] 10- to 13-year-olds could leave school once they had reached a certain academic standard.[12] Attendance was made free in 1891, the minimum school leaving age was increased to 11 in 1893 and 12 in 1899. Compulsory education was also extended to deaf and blind children in 1893.[15]

Class photo at Tywyn Boys School by John Thomas (1890)

Between 1870 and 1900 many new schools were built by the boards with the overall number of schools more than doubling. The boards also took over a large number of works and non-conformist schools. In 1900 1,709 schools in Wales were receiving public funds of which 893 were board schools, 687 were Anglican schools and 51 Nonconformist schools. 65% of school places were at board schools. At the time of the 1870 Education Act many school buildings were of a poor quality, lacking proper facilities and healthy conditions. The Education department pushed for improvements. Some of the poorer, smaller school boards employed local builders to design their new schools but most recruited professional architects. The elementary education system in Wales during this period closely resembled that of England. Both in what it taught and how it was administered. However Welsh schools were often particularly enthusiastic about music, largely singing. While the schools provided a basic education for almost all children they were not without their limitations. The payment-by-results scheme encouraged an emphasis on rote learning and teaching to the test. Though the curriculum steadily expanded with payments available to schools for results in history, geography, science, domestic science, metalwork and woodwork. Classes were large, varied in age, ability and pupils were often from impoverished households. Resources of all kinds were lacking. Discipline was difficult to maintain and the cane often made use of. The newspapers frequently featured stories about teachers whose punishments were so severe that they ended up on trial for assault. Poor attendance was also a problem. Various factors contributed to this including outbreaks of childhood diseases, indifferent parents, child labour and initially fees that were difficult for many households to pay. The overall level of attendance in Wales was 75.6% in 1899.[13]

Girls Intermediate School Aberdare (1913)

The Aberdare Committee of 1881 emphasised the need for improved secondary education, especially for girls.[7] The committee envisaged a four-tier system of secondary education. The social elite would continue to attend English public schools. The upper end of the middle classes would attend "first grade" intermediate schools which would continue until the age of 18 or 19 and prepare the most able for Oxbridge. Lower middle-class children (a new group to receive secondary education) along with the most gifted and determined working-class children would attend "second grade" intermediate schools which would take them up to the age of 16. Fees would therefore be kept relatively low for this group and some scholarships provided. Below them would be the "higher grade" schools which had been created as quasi-secondary schools for higher performing children by the school boards and were not covered in the 1889 act. The witnesses spoken to by the committee were mainly middle class, the handful of working-class witnesses spoken to also expressed a strong desire for education but it was hard for middle-class people to imagine that many working-class children would be interested.[13] The committee led to the Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889 predating similar legislation in England by thirteen years.[7] By around 1900 there were 7,000 children in the intermediate schools including almost as many girls as boys. A majority catered for both sexes in a segregated manner. While the schools had been intended primarily for the middle classes in some areas as many as a third of pupils were of working-class backgrounds. For a long time the main curriculum of a majority of intermediate schools was English, Latin, mathematics, history, geography and French. The practical and scientific side of the curriculum, though encouraged by the authorities, was largely neglected by schools. Most of the headmasters adopted an ethos for the schools resembling English grammar schools and public schools including uniforms, sport on Saturdays, prefects and school clubs.[13] A degree of overlap developed between the age groups catered for by these schools and elementary schools.[16] The House of Commons was told in 1904 that 91 of 95 intermediate schools were classified as good or excellent. The Central Welsh Board was established in 1896 to inspect the Intermediate schools but they were also visited by inspectors from other government bodies. Meanwhile the period saw a growth in evening classes teaching vocational subjects. While their progress had previously been slow and varied by the end of the 19th century these classes were becoming increasingly well regarded.[7]

The payment-by-results system ended in the middle of the 1890s. A feeling had developed in the education department that the inspectorate needed to return to its original role as a supportive advisor for schools rather than punitively judging their results. Historian Russell Grigg writes that it took "time, commitment and training" for teachers to adjust to the new system but that by the 1900s there was evidence of them moving away from rote learning to a wider curriculum and more varied teaching methods including "field visits, local study, school museums and the creation of school gardens".[7] Class sizes remained large, instruction was focused on the three r's and the cane frequently used. Elementary schools were widely understood to be mainly institutions providing a fairly low level of education to those destined for lives of manual labour. 1904 guidance for elementary schools commented that they provided "training in followership rather than leadership training, suited to the working classes".[17] Changes in the 1900s included the end of the pupil-teacher system in which teenagers had been put to work from the age of 13 as trainee teachers and the creation of local education authorities.[7]

Schoolchildren in Bleddfa photographed by Percy Benzie Abury (1911)

The passing of the 1902 Education Act which established the local education authorities was deeply opposed by the non-conformists because it restructured school financing in a way that meant ratepayers would be paying directly for the upkeep of Anglican and Roman Catholic schools. In the heightened religious atmosphere of the 1904 to 1905 Christian revival, this led to a political crisis in Wales with most local authorities refusing to apply the law. A prolonged struggle took place between the local authorities and central government which had a disruptive effect on schooling. It ultimately concluded after the election in 1906 of a government that was more popular in Wales.[17] In 1907 the Welsh department was established within the Board of Education. The department was headed by Owen Edwards a figure who was supportive of introducing a curriculum more specific to Wales and had some success in implementing it.[18] The 1902 Act allowed local authorities to create municipal secondary schools outside the network of intermediate schools created after the 1889 Act. This was encouraged by the Welsh department as a way to undermine the Central Welsh Board. Edwards disliked the secondary schools' focus on rote learning and exams though he was ultimately fighting against the grain of public opinion at the time. Meanwhile, between 1906 and 1910, the government passed various legislation intended to improve the welfare of schoolchildren at a time when disease was a serious threat to children. Free school milk was offered, local authorities were given the option to provide free school meals, a medical department was set up in the board of education and local authorities were required to appoint school medical officers as well as conduct physical examinations of pupils.[17] Maude Morgan Thomas, a Welsh immigrant to the United States, wrote a biography intended for American children about her early years in Pontypool during the Edwardian period. In the chapter on her schooling she describes lessons in art, Welsh mediaeval history, needlework (for girls), domestic science (for older girls), optional piano lessons and frequent corporal punishment. She comments on her experience:

School days in Wales were rather more uncomfortable than happy for me. There were always so many rattan canes lashing about, so much writing and arithmetic. Copy books had to be neatly filled with carefully written words, evenly spaced and shaded properly on each down stroke. One blot or one imperfect letter would bring the rattan cane stinging down on laboring knuckles... As I look back now, kindergarten[note 5] days were very pleasant. Welsh children usually began school at a very early age, many of them as young as three years. So school days were play days for the beginners.[19]

Schoolgirl at Llanbedr Secondary Modern School studying textiles photographed by Geoff Charles (1954)

The 1944 Education Act largely put the 1943 proposal into law but not all of it was implemented. For instance while the school leaving age was increased to 15 in 1947 the increase to 16 was indefinitely delayed. The introduction of compulsory part-time education up to the age of 18 also did not happen as local authorities struggled to provide sufficient colleges. The 1944 Act did not say what variety of school types should be created but most local authorities chose the types recommended by Norwood. However very few of the technical schools were opened. They faced various difficulties which were common to both England and Wales but in Wales, where academic secondary education had been seen as an ideal since the 19th century, there was a particular lack of respect for vocational education. Equal status between different school types was also not established with secondary modern's seen as a poor alternative to grammar's and the latter group receiving more than twice as much money per child. The grammar schools followed in the tradition of the pre-war secondary schools. For instance elaborate uniforms, strict discipline, a competitive spirit and a distinctive school brand. While they often claimed to be indifferent to exam results, in reality, that was usually their main focus. Meanwhile the secondary modern schools' reputation was primarily linked to the old elementary schools. Their curriculum focused on English, mathematics and practical skills, especially for lower-ability pupils. Boys' and girls' experiences varied in all kinds of secondary schools with the traditional view of a woman's primary role in life being as a wife and mother having a particular influence on secondary modern's.[20]

Girls in traditional Welsh dress for St David's Day at Machynlleth Junior School photographed by Geoff Charles (1952)

Under the 1944 Act local authorities were supposed to organise nursery schools for the early education of children under the age of five. However, with the postwar baby boom to accommodate, the priority of local authorities was catering for children of school age. There were only about 40 nursery schools in Wales by 1964 and fewer children in nursery classes in larger schools than there had been in 1939. Legally primary education began at the latest on a child's fifth birthday. They might attend separate infant and junior schools, departments or a combined primary school. Infant schools were almost always mixed-sex with very few exceptions. In the first year of infants (reception class) children did largely the same activities as nursery children while also being introduced to letters, numbers and certain other skills. Teaching methods with older children in the infants varied with some teachers using explicit instruction and others taking a more informal approach. At age 7 children moved into juniors. Junior schools were usually mixed sex but there were some of single sex. Here a disciplined form of teaching from the front of the class was the norm in English and mathematics. While in other subjects such as history, geography, art and nature studies a more varied approach might be used. Most junior schools organised children into classes based on ability. The Hadow report of 1931 which was an influence on junior schools in the postwar years argued that the main priority of education at this age should be children's health and happiness. That goal was undermined by the need to get as many children as possible to pass the 11-plus. There was little teaching of art, physical education and nature studies at many junior schools during this period.[20]

With the new economic prosperity starting in the late 1950s much more money began to be spent on education. There was a general sense of optimism about education and a feeling that it could induce progress. By 1965 there were 102,000 students in adult education in Wales and industry was increasingly valuing technical education. The growth of broadcasting provided new sources of informal education and by the 1960s a significant chunk of this was focused on specifically Welsh matters. However there continued to be shortages of teachers and the number of pupils staying at school after the minimum leaving age increased but remained relatively low. Concern about a breakdown in traditional structures of authority and an increase in teenage rebellion along with juvenile delinquency focused on the group of young people in their mid-teens who were not in formal education. Opinion began to turn against the segregated system of secondary schools. This was due to the lack of technical schools, the privileged status given to grammar school pupils over others and research suggesting that the 11-plus examination harmed children. After a change in government in 1964 it became the central government's policy to push local authorities towards switching to comprehensive schools.[20] Over the following years there was a steady shift in that direction and by 1980 all local authorities in Wales had moved to that system. In Wales the new system was fairly consistent in being made up of large comprehensive schools for pupils aged 11- to 18-years-old. In the 1977/78 academic year 14% of comprehensive schools in Wales had more than 1,500 pupils. In general Welsh local authorities were more willing to implement the new system than their English counterparts but there was a degree of reluctance both to the principle of losing grammar schools and to another major upheaval in secondary education not long after the immediate postwar reforms. In 1972 the school leaving age was increased to 16. In the late 1960s attempts were made to reform the curriculum in preparation for this change which themselves became politically controversial. Further education grew rapidly in the 1970s as youth unemployment increased, apprenticeships declined and more older adults who had struggled at school attempted to improve their education levels later in life. By 1979 there were about 80,000 students in further education in Wales as well as an additional 127,411 in adult education centres.[21] However various government schemes intended to replace the declining apprenticeship system had limited success.[22]

Primary schools in the 1960s were influenced by the trend away from the 11-plus examination.[21] The Hadow report had argued that the curriculum for this age group should "be thought of in terms of activity and experience rather than of knowledge to be acquired and facts to be stored". In the 1960s this idea began to be pushed by educators of schoolteachers and inspectors. However HMI reports suggest this approach was fairly uncommon in Wales.[20] In 1968 the Gittins Report (essentially a Welsh version of the Plowden Report, though the latter also had some influence in Wales) into pre-secondary education was published. It argued that nursery education should be expanded with a focus on localities where children were in the most need of early years education. The aim being that universal part-time nursery would be established for preschool children from the age of three and full-time nursery for children in the most need. At primary school it recommended the use of a wider range of teaching methods with the focus of education being on the development of skills, understanding and the enhancement of child development. The Plowden Report had similar ideas and a new ethos developed in primary education. This new situation became deeply politically controversial and by the end of the 1970s the central government had reasserted a greater degree of control over primary schools.[21] The Aberfan Disaster, a tragic and highly publicised event in the history of Welsh education, took place in the coal-mining community of Aberfan during this period. In 1966 a spoil tip slipped crushing Pantglas Junior School during lesson time. 116 children (mainly between 7- and 11-years-old) and 28 adults were killed, they were pupils at the school, teachers and some residents of nearby houses. Jeff Edwards, the last of only ten children to be rescued from inside the school building and later Mayor of Merthyr Tydfil, described his experience in a 2016 interview:[23]

I’d gone over to the library books which were on the windowsill at the back of the class which faced the tip and picked up Herge’s Adventures of Tintin, I came back to my desk and our teacher, Mr Davies, started a maths lesson... The next thing I remember was waking up, my right foot was stuck in the radiator and there was water pouring out of it. My desk was pinned against my stomach and a girl's head was on my left shoulder. She was dead. Because all the debris was around me I couldn't get away from her. The image of her face comes back to me continuously. It was black all around me but there was an aperture of light about 10ft above me. I remember seeing particles of dust spinning and glistening where the light caught them. I could hear crying and screaming. As time went on they got quieter and quieter as children died, they were buried and running out of air.

In 1970 responsibility for primary and secondary education in Wales was transferred to the Welsh Office, a department of the UK government. Although historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne Roderick say this had a limited effect on the overall direction of the government concerning education in Wales.[21] The government of the 1980s made various changes to the administration of and requirements placed on schools. Throughout the decade school governors (essentially ceremonial figures since the 1944 act) gained much more power at the expense of the local education authorities. The governors were also given control over the school's financial affairs, deciding how to spend the grant received from local authorities. According to historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne Roderick this essentially turned schools into competing businesses aiming to attract more pupils to get more money, breaking down the spirit of cooperation that had often existed between them historically. The 1988 Education Reform Act established a national curriculum in England and Wales. The idea that every child should receive the same set of subjects taught to the same level was new in the history of state-funded education and certainly unlike the way the system had been run since World War II. The Welsh curriculum was developed in close proximity to the English. The overall structure of the curriculum was the same in Wales as in England but there were some significantly different instructions about certain subjects in Wales. The Curriculum Cymraeg was introduced in the 1990s to add an emphasis on Wales-related topics into the curriculum.[22]

In reflection of their close relationship with the Roman Catholic Church the schools of the medieval period were conducted in Latin. By the 15th century knowledge of English and Latin was one of various forms of education which was seen as increasingly valuable by the Welsh social elite. In the 16th Century the laws that made Wales part of the Kingdom of England also established that English was to be the official language of administration and justice even though the vast majority of the Welsh population of a lower rank than Gentlemen were solely Welsh speaking. This added additional importance to learning English for the Welsh gentry. The grammar schools of the early modern period taught in English or Latin with boys expected to have learnt sufficient English before starting though there were complaints at the time that some had not. The schools established by Cromwell's government taught a grammar school-level education in Latin and a more basic level in English.[1] The schools established by Thomas Gouge were conducted in English. Historian T.B. Stephens observes that in 18th-century charity schools "the vernacular [local language] was used as a medium of instruction more readily than in Gaelic-speaking parts of Scotland".[9] The typical medium of instruction in the SPCK schools was English but speaking Welsh in the schools was not restricted and a dozen schools in North Wales were conducted in Welsh. The circulatory schools used Welsh as their medium of instruction and aimed to teach the ability to read in Welsh only. This was criticised by some of its patrons but the practice was defended by Griffith Jones. Who 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. The Sunday schools established in Wales in the late 18th century were conducted in Welsh. The day schools created by the voluntary societies in the early 19th century were usually conducted in English. [5]

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".[14] The report, released in 1847, caused great offence in Wales due to derogatory comments it made about the morality of the Welsh people and the Welsh language.[7][14] Though 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.[14] Historian Gregg Russell describes its substance aside from the derogatory comments as "a detailed picture of educational poverty".[7] It 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. Historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne 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 a deliberate expression of anti-Welsh sentiment. The regional dialects of the English working classes were also criticised in other educational reports. They also say that the educational aspects of the report's criticism were broadly reasonable. At the time nonconformists generally interpreted the report as an English and Anglican attack on the Welsh while some Anglican churchmen criticised its tone.[14]

Example of a Welsh Not displayed at St Fagans Museum

The attitude that the Welsh Language impeded education would continue through most of the remainder of the 19th century. Welsh-speaking parents were often also keen for their children to learn English to allow them more opportunities in life. The language of instruction at day schools was almost always English. The revised code of 1862 did not include Welsh as a grant-earning subject. One of the drawbacks of this system was that many teachers were themselves Welsh speakers with a limited grasp of English. Some critics suggested using Welsh as a means of teaching English, though most school inspectors and other influential figures were hostile. Teaching in Welsh was widely available in Sunday Schools, some people who were sympathetic to the language suggested that chapels were the institutions best placed to preserve it.[14][13] One of the more iconic symbols of educational attitudes to the Welsh language during this period is the Welsh Not which became well-known in the popular legends of the next century.[40] This was a wooden plaque which some teachers tied around the neck of any child caught speaking Welsh on the school premises. If another child was caught it was moved onto them and the child wearing the plaque at the end of the school day was punished. Much anecdotal evidence of this practice exists but its extent is largely unknown. There is no evidence of it taking place in board schools.[13]

In reflection of an intensified sense of Welsh identity attitudes among the authorities relating to the use of Welsh in schools began to soften towards the end of the 19th century. Although, due to reasons largely unrelated to education, Wales was increasingly becoming a predominantly English-speaking society. It became possible for Welsh to be taught at elementary schools in the 1880s.[13] Welsh became a grant-earning subject under the payment-by-results scheme during the last few years of its existence and a small fund was established to allow elementary schools to teach the subject in the 1890s.[7] Some school boards did try to introduce the subject but it was entirely optional, any lessons used English as the medium of instruction and it was mainly taught as an aid for teaching English.[13][7] In 1899 to 1900 only 0.8 percent of pupils were taught Welsh as a subject.[7] From 1907 to 1920 educationalist Owen Edwards was in charge of the newly created Welsh Department of the Board of Education. He was in favour of increased use of Welsh in schools, primarily in predominantly Welsh-speaking areas. Since the end of payment by results Edwards had little power to make schools do anything but there was a gradual, patchy increase in the use of Welsh in the years after his appointment. The 1927 government report Welsh in Education and Life found that Welsh was, in Welsh-speaking areas, the main language of instruction in infant schools and was often taught as a subject up to the age of 10-years-old. It was sometimes also taught as a second language in elementary schools in English-speaking areas. Meanwhile, the report also noted that the number of intermediate schools offering Welsh as a subject increased from 31 out of 79 in 1897 to 96 out of 116 in 1925. However only around 40% of pupils took exams in Welsh in comparison to 67% in French and Welsh would not have been a language of instruction.[18]

Schoolchildren at the Urdd National Eisteddfod. An event hosted by the Urdd Gobaith Cymru, a youth organisation intended to promote the Welsh language photographed by Geoff Charles (1961)

Even with some increase in the use of Welsh at schools, censuses suggested that Welsh speakers had become a minority in Wales at the start of the 20th century and continued to shrink as a proportion of the population.[18] There was little prospect of a significant increase in the status of the Welsh language in the education system during the interwar period. The priority of Welsh-speaking parents was ensuring their children gained fluency in English to give them the best chance of gaining employment in a worsening economy. The Urdd Gobaith Cymru (Welsh League of Youth) was established in 1922 to develop an affection for the Welsh language and aspects of Welsh culture in young people. After five years the organisation had 5,000 members.[18] In 1939 the first Welsh-medium primary school was established independently of the state by the Urdd in Aberystwyth.[41] The 1944 Education Act made it possible for Welsh-medium schools to be funded by the state for the first time. The first state school of this type was opened in Llanelli in 1947 and there were ten such institutions within two years.[42] The first bilingual and Welsh medium secondary schools were founded in 1956 and 1962 respectively.[43][44] By 1970 there were 41 Welsh medium primary schools with about 5,000 pupils and in 1995 there were more than 50,000 pupils in this kind of primary education.[21][42] By 1980 there were a significant number of Welsh medium or bilingual secondary schools. These schools were controversial but received support from government departments. While censuses suggested that by this time a large majority of the Welsh population were solely English speakers some non-Welsh speaking parents sent their children to Welsh medium schools.[21] Welsh was included in the curriculum introduced after the 1988 Education Reform Act and became compulsory for pupils up to the age of 14 in 1990 and 16 in 1999.[45] Welsh was treated as a "foundation subject" (i.e. less important but expected to be taught) in English-medium schools and a "core subject" (i.e. of equal status to English) in Welsh-medium schools.[22][46] In 2016 16% of pupils attended Welsh-medium schools while 10% attended "bilingual, dual-medium [with Welsh and English speaking departments], or English with significant Welsh provision" schools.[47]

Beginning in the mediaeval period a small number of Welshmen began to attend university outside of Wales. The earliest option was the University of Bologna in Italy and some are known to have attended the University of Paris. The most well-known example is Gerald of Wales a scholar who worked as a clerk in the royal court of England. The University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge were founded in the 12th and 13th centuries respectively. During the period between 1200 and 1500 about 400 Welshmen were registered as attending the University of Oxford and 40 the University of Cambridge but those figures are probably underestimates. A number also attended continental universities or trained in the Inns of Court. During his rebellion Owain Glyndwr considered the idea of creating two universities one in North and one in South Wales which according to historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne Roderick would have allowed him to create his own governing class. In the 16th century there was an increased interest in attending university. Historian W.P. Griffith estimated that 200 Welsh students attended the University of Oxford in the first 40 years of the century. He also estimated that 4,000 attended the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge or Inns of Court in the hundred years after 1640. This expansion in demand was particularly due to the same factors as the expansion in lower levels of education. It was also influenced by universities, which were mainly institutions for the education of the clergy, increasingly becoming acceptable for other gentlemen. Poor men could gain admission by acting as servants in university colleges in exchange for the removal of fees and some financial support. A substantial number of Welsh students used this method. Welshmen remained under-represented in higher education as a proportion of the English and Welsh population. The average age of entrance was 18 with significant variances. For instance students progressing to one of these institutions from grammar school tended to be between 14- and 16-years-old. In the mediaeval period the most common area of study was Canon and Civil law but this gradually changed in the 16th century to a Bachelor of Arts. About 50% of students graduated. Of those that did so it typically took four years to gain a bachelor's degree and another three to become a Master of Arts. Something that would be useful for a man wishing to become a cleric. The curriculum was similar to that of medieval grammar schools. It focused heavily on Aristotle but it was widening to include Greek and Hebrew texts. Those progressing onto a Master's degree studied a wider range of fields. The clergy students were involved in much scholarship, that was less true of the other men but there are some examples of dedicated students. For instance Edward Carne from Ewenny in the Vale of Glamorgan who had a celebrated legal career and eventually became an ambassador. Jesus College at Oxford University was founded by Hugh Price from Brecon and was particularly associated with Welsh students.[1]

Oxford and Cambridge Universities fell into decline in the 18th century with a curriculum that had evolved little since mediaeval 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. They were originally established mainly to train future dissenter ministers but they also attracted Anglicans who saw them as being of a better standard. 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.[48] These colleges evolved into the theological colleges of the 19th century which were associated with Non-conformists.[14][5] 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".[14] 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 non-conformists. 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.[14][5]

Illustration of the University College of Wales next to a parish church (1868)

In 1853 Benjamin Thomas Williams wrote a pamphlet called The Desirableness of a University of Wales which argued for the creation of a non-sectarian university. In 1854 a group of Welshmen of high status gathered to discuss the idea of a university organised on the model of the University of Ireland. In 1857 a short-lived scheme was established to create a university in Wales which quickly broke down. Afterwards there was little progress due to the need for government funding at a time when the government was focused on paying for the Crimean War.[14] By 1867 only £5,000 had been raised. The Castle Hotel, Aberystwyth was bought that year for fundraising efforts. Hugh Owen, a retired civil servant, dedicated himself to fundraising. He quickly collected £7,000 mainly in small donations from ordinary people across Wales. By 1874 the debt on the buildings was paid off. In 1872 the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth was opened. The students, who were mainly aged 14 to 25, were often ill-prepared for university. This was especially true of those studying science. Historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne Roderick argued that this reflected the mediocre nature of secondary education in Wales at the time. Some older men also came to study frequently farmers who studied agriculture. Women were initially allowed to study music at the university. A situation which caused much annoyance among male academics and ended in 1878. In 1880 the Aberdare Committee recommended the creation of two university colleges in north and south Wales funded by the government with an annual grant. This led to the creation of the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, Cardiff and University College in North Wales, Bangor in 1883. The original university gained its own grant in 1886. Initially the colleges were affiliated with the University of London but in 1893 the University of Wales was established as an overarching university for the colleges with the power to issue degrees. By 1900 the colleges were teaching a wide range of subjects relating to the arts and sciences but remained heavily reliant on the state and had less success with developing a technological curriculum.[13]

The colleges of the University of Wales physically expanded in the early 20th century. While two of the colleges developed courses in agriculture funded by the state, the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire had less success developing technical subjects. Historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne Roderick wrote that this was due to scepticism towards formal education on the part of industrialists, a level of snobbishness towards vocational training among academics and a lack of financial support from the government. By 1908 there were more female students than male in Aberystwyth. The women were kept separate from the men and chaperoned. Universities were disrupted by World War I with many students volunteering. The University College of Swansea was founded in 1920 and gained a reputation for science and technology. In 1922, the Welsh National School of Medicine was founded. The University of Wales Press and Board of Celtic Studies were founded in 1922 expanding the publishing of research. While the universities had working-class students the economic conditions of the time prevented many of even the most academic young people from attending. In the 1938/39 academic year there were 663 students in Aberystwyth, 485 in Bangor, 970 in Cardiff, 488 in Swansea and 173 in the medical school. More than 90% had been born in Wales. There were also other means of gaining access to higher education in the early 20th century connected to left-wing politics. The Workers' Educational Association set up classes intended to encourage discussion of the social problems of the time. It was fairly moderate in its outlook aiming to develop a sense of democratic citizenship in its students and arguing for a reconciliation between the interests of capital and labour. This lack of radicalism was off-putting for much of the working classes but by 1924 the association had 4,000 students in 200 classes. The Coleg Harlech was established with similar aims by Thomas Jones (see above) in 1927. Beginning in 1906 the South Wales' Miners Federation established a scholarship to Ruskin College. These students were known for their left-wing militancy contributing to the Ruskin College strike in 1909. The union then contributed to the Central Labour College which existed sporadically for the next twenty years and inculcated Marxist ideas in coal-mining areas. Its classes were initially far more popular than the Workers Educational Association and an intense rivalry developed between the two organisations in the interwar years when the Workers Educational Association gained government funding and increased its appeal to trade unionists.[18]

Students starting at the University College of North Wales, Bangor photographed by Geoff Charles (1958)

The Welsh universities experienced difficulties during World War II with staff shortages, neglected repairs, falling student numbers and shared accommodation with other institutions. The postwar period saw a rapid expansion of higher education establishments especially in the study of science and technology. This was a result of the Cold War, a desire for Britain to remain a great power after the end of the empire and economic competition from abroad. In Wales the City of Cardiff Technical College became the Welsh College of Advanced Technology which itself evolved into the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. Meanwhile the University of Wales also experienced the rapid increase in student numbers seen across British Universities. Accommodating these new students required major physical expansion especially with a trend towards students living at university. More English students went to the University of Wales and more Welsh students went to English universities. The colleges introduced new aspects to their curriculum reflecting the new situation. However it saw less of an uptake in science than elsewhere. At the time the reasons for this were felt to be a long-running cultural hostility to technical education in Wales as well as affection for the humanities along with the fact that Welsh-speaking students were then forced to take Welsh as an additional subject and often pushed to take other languages as well. Access to university remained very limited with only 15% of the relevant age group across England and Wales reaching the necessary level of qualification for admission in 1962 and only 4% enrolling.[20] A 1963 report noted that the large majority of them were men and that there had been very little increase in the proportion of students from working-class backgrounds. Student protests were a part of university life in the 1960s including some about specifically Welsh matters such as the Welsh language (see:Welsh Language Society). A fall in the proportion of students at the University of Wales who had been born in Wales continued becoming a minority in the mid-1960s. An enquiry into the subject concluded that at a time when young people were feeling newly liberated in various ways travelling far away from their family homes to study appeared an attractive option to assert their autonomy and ambition. This situation led by the mid-1970s to frustration among Welsh Nationalists who felt the "Welshness" of the university was being diluted and objected to any further expansion. Ultimately expansion largely came to an end due to the economic crisis of the 1970s. Polytechnics were established in 1965 as a form of higher education run by local authorities. More of a focus began to be placed on attracting older adults into higher education, for instance with the creation of the Open University in 1970.[21]

The 1992 Further and Higher Education Act made the polytechnics into universities.[49] According to historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne Roderick this Act moved universities into a similar position as schools had been moved into by the 1980s reforms. Particularly competing as businesses, particularly controlled by the state. Means-tested grants were replaced with student loans and tuition fees introduced in the 1990s. The argument given in favour of this at the time was that the state could not afford to pay for far higher numbers of young people attending university than in the past. By 1999 almost a quarter of young people aged 19 to 24 in Wales had received a university education a figure which continued to rise in the early 2000s. There were 13 higher education institutions, eight of which were part of the University of Wales. More than half of Welsh students studied in other parts of the UK and more than half of students in Welsh universities were from outside of Wales.[22] In the 2021 Census 31.5% of permanent residents of Wales over the age of sixteen were recorded as having university-level qualifications.[50]