EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION!
Education was largely the creation of the church stimulated by the great love of learning of the early monks. Thus the earlier educational institutions were subject to monastic discipline or supervision of a bishop. Many were establishments intended to provide a general education for clergy, e.g. the universities of the 12th and 13th centuries.
Some of the money which came from the dissolution of the monasteries went into the founding of schools and gradually the reformers of the 16th century raised standards in schools and universities. A law was passed in Scotland requiring every parish to provide a school and a schoolmaster in Wales, Griffith Jones, an Anglican Minister, developed ‘circulating’ schools, which moved from one area to another every three months, whilst in England Christians not belonging to the Church of England set up their own educational institutions.
A key historical figure in education was Robert Raikes, who in 1780 paid four women to teach the children of the poor on a Sunday - on other days they would be at work. So began the Sunday School movement which provided the only education available to many of the children employed in the new factories of the Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution led to a desire to educate the masses, key figures including Samuel Whitbread (1807) and Joshua Watson (1814), both stimulated by their Christian faith. Other prominent figures were Joseph Lancaster, a Quaker, and an Anglican Priest, Dr. Andrew Bell. Watson was to play a leading role in the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church (how’s that for a title!), whose purpose was to encourage parishes to start their own schools, as well as the foundation of a new higher education establishment, King’s College, London, in 1829.
The growth in nonconformity led to opposition to the Education Act, 1870, promoted by W.E. Forster. The main purpose of this Bill was to build enough schools for every child to have a place, through Board Schools existing alongside voluntary schools (the majority of which were church schools). R.W. Dale (1829-95), himself a Christian, was a keen advocate of these Board Schools even though there was a move to exclude all religious teaching from any school supported by public money. The mid 19th century led to a growth in grammar schools, most being church foundations.
The Christian church continued to have an impact on education throughout the 20th century, with regular debates concerning the status of schools, especially following the 1944 Education Act.
Almost one third of all schools in England are church schools today, with Christian teachers, chaplains, youth leaders and schools workers continuing to play an important part in the lives of many children
They, and we, follow in the steps of the greatest teacher of all - Jesus, who is still changing lives today.
That is by far the best reason for celebrating the year 2000!
Trevor Davies
Note: This is the last in this present series.