Between 1701 and the 1870 Elementary Education Act, access to formal education expanded in Wales, though remained short of universal.

During the 18th century, several philanthropic efforts were made to provide education to poorer children and sometimes adults; these included schools established by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), circulating schools, Sunday schools and endowed elementary schools. This allowed many Welsh peasants to learn to read and develop an interest in religion. In the early to mid-19th century, charitable schools were established to provide a basic education. Private schools aimed at the working classes also existed. Most elementary-level schools taught a limited curriculum and made use of corporal punishment. State funding was introduced to schools from 1833. This was followed by school inspections and teacher training. Physical punishment declined in schools in the mid-19th century. From 1862, schools had to participate in standardised tests to receive grants.

Some use of the Welsh language was made in 18th-century philanthropic education at a time when the Welsh peasantry was, for the most part, solely Welsh-speaking. In the early 19th century Welsh public opinion was keen for children to learn the English language. Many schools tried to achieve this by excluding Welsh and punishing children for speaking the language. The Welsh Not was a method of punishment used at many schools and remains well known in Wales. Government investigations in the mid-19th century indicated that this approach was ineffective and that some use of Welsh in schools was necessary to teach English. The government did not prohibit the use of Welsh but it did little to promote bilingualism in schools during this period.

Grammar schools continued to exist but experienced 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. Girls' involvement in elementary and secondary education increased, but remained more limited than for boys.

Background Terminology The idea of dividing schooling into different levels of progression was not well established during this period. Welsh and English contemporaries usually saw schooling instead in terms of the social class it was intended for; distinguishing between "elementary" education (for the working classes) and "middle-class" education. Elementary education was equivalent to the modern term primary education and was most people's sole experience of schooling. It catered for all ages of children and sometimes adults. Historians use the term secondary education to describe schooling aimed at older children in particular as well as middle- and upper-class children of all ages. Grammar schools were a type of secondary school that were based on an endowment.

Early modern education in Wales

Several grammar schools were established in Wales in the 16th and 17th centuries to cater to boys of "the middling sort". A few schools provided a more basic level of instruction; sometimes as preparation for grammar schools. There were other less formal ways that some children may have received a little education. Formal education was nevertheless unattainable for the vast majority of the population in the 16th and much of the 17th century. Growing concern about illiteracy on religious grounds led to Cromwell's government and the clergyman Thomas Gouge establishing short-lived school systems in Wales in the later 17th century. During the medieval period, some Welshmen began to attend universities outside Wales. Attendance became increasingly common during the early modern period.

Historical context, 1701–1870

Wales had been integrated into the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Those acts had also made English the language of government. The Kingdom of England united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and with Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. The remaining legal distinctions between Wales and England were abolished during this period.

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 more success. Malcolm Seaborne, who has studied early modern Welsh schools, argued 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. Basic education was attractive to peasants themselves because they wanted to be able to read the Bible, though there is uncertainty about why this desire developed.

The American Revolutionary War and the French Revolution in the late 18th century led to anxiety in government about Britain's political stability. Although the industrial revolution improved living conditions for the Welsh population in general, the population of industrial areas increased sharply with migration from rural Wales, western England and Ireland. Overcrowded, unsanitary towns developed where the poorest could find little assistance. Rural areas also experienced economic difficulties, especially during the depression in the years after 1815. Hunger and poor housing were a common problem in these areas. Both the rural and urban working classes worked long hours with little leisure.

The traditional social hierarchy began to break down. Instances of social unrest, such as the Rebecca Riots and the 1831 Merthyr Rising, took place in Wales and there were worries that a lack of moral standards was corrupting children. Schooling was believed to be an effective response to these problems. In an 1843 report, HMI (Her Majesty's Inspector) 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". It was hoped that schooling would inculcate moral virtues, encourage acceptance of the social order and guide children away from crime.

There was a degree of scepticism towards the idea of creating a state education system. Some saw schooling as a matter for the Church, while 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. Martin Johnes, who has written a history of schools' attitude to the Welsh language during this period, commented that the 19th-century British state was "highly moralistic and deeply worried about costs" with a commitment to "laissez-faire [non-interventionist] politics". The government did not begin to fund education until the 1830s, and its role in education remained limited throughout the mid-19th century. Schools were voluntary and charged fees.

Children in rural areas were employed to help with farm work. W. B. Stephens, a historian of British education, argues that the process of industrialisation often led to a stagnation or decline of literacy levels. In industrial areas of South Wales, boys and girls were employed to do simple tasks in mines and ironworks. Child labour was widely available, well-paying by the standards of the time and many parents saw schooling as unnecessary. Many parents did value education and some were willing to make significant personal sacrifices to send their children to school. Younger children were often ill-equipped for paid work and schools could act as a form of childcare. Nevertheless, fees and, in some schools, an expectation that children would dress well or bring in their own equipment were sometimes beyond parents' financial means. It might also be difficult for them to do without a child's wages. A farm labourer in Cardiganshire with six illiterate children told the Commission on the Employment of Children, Young Persons, and Women in Agriculture (1867);There is no school in the parish where I live, and if there was I could not afford to send my children to it. I never get meat, except now and then a bit of bacon. I live upon potatoes, bread and cheese, and a little butter. The labour of children becomes valuable after 10; a boy of that age can earn 11. 10s. a year, besides getting his meals at the farm house … Education is a good thing, but bread for a poor man is better.

18th-century schooling

Elementary education Schools were operated by private businesses, charities and the Church in 18th-century England and Wales, and became reasonably common. According to 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 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK). Nearly 100 SPCK schools had been founded in Wales 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 practical skills: for instance, working with textiles for girls, and farm work or seafaring for boys. They might organise apprenticeships and supervision after boys had 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. The government's fear of a largely imagined threat of Jacobitism in Wales led to the Welsh SPCK schools having an especially heavy emphasis on religion. There were conflicts within the organisation; for instance, some of the Society's leaders were accused of disloyalty to the Crown during the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion. One of the main limitations of the schools was that peasant children had other work to do and being educated was of little financial benefit for them.

Circulating schools were developed in the 1730s by the Reverend Griffith Jones, a Welsh clergyman in the Church of England. They originated within Wales and aimed to cater to people of all ages. Children's classes were conducted in the daytime and adults' in the evenings. The schools only taught the ability to read, other subjects being theoretically forbidden. They ran for three months during the period when demand for labour was lowest, usually winter. Accommodation was 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 several patrons, English as well as Welsh. He informed them about the progress of the schools through an annual publication Welch Piety. According to one estimate, circulating schools taught around half of the Welsh population in the mid-18th century. Greater interest developed in reading the Bible across all social classes of the Welsh population. The movement became well known internationally; historians of Welsh education Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordan Wynne Roderick describe it as "among the most important educational experiments anywhere in Europe in the eighteenth century". With the exception of some smaller initiatives in the Scottish highlands, it was a novelty in Britain.