In the 18th century it was religion and charity that promoted most of the education in Wales. Church organisations and charitable institutions, along with a large number of private schools, were the main providers. The Sunday Schools were significant in this provision and very popular since they used the Welsh language, reflected the Welsh nonconformist beliefs and traditions, were available free of charge to all ages and did not interfere with everyday work.
Carmarthenshire played an important part in the education of the poorer people in Wales since it was the birthplace of Griffiths Jones (1683-1761) and Thomas Charles (1755-1814). Jones initiated the ‘circulating school’ for the rural parishes where a school building was not feasible and where money could be spent on teachers who would hold classes for three months in a parish vestry or other available building. Charles continued to advance the circulating school but is best known for the development of the Sunday School movement, building on the work of Robert Raikes in England but including adult classes and using the Welsh language. The movement grew rapidly with the aims of learning reading through the Bible and learning a catechism by rote.
The result of the work of both these extraordinary men was that it enabled the majority of people in Wales to read Welsh and to be able to discuss theology. The Sunday schools boosted Nonconformity and in the 19th century were a feature of the chapel as a centre of social activity. Very often those who had been scholars in the circulating schools became enthusiastic teachers in the Sunday Schools. Most would agree that the first Sunday School in Wales was established in 1785. It initially met opposition in many quarters including among those who regarded teaching as secular work and breaking the Sabbath law. But soon they became really popular and multiplied when the most intelligent and influential men supported Charles’ work.
Charles prepared three books to guide those in the new movement: the first was the Sillydd or spelling book which was a graduated series of lessons for learning the Welsh language, with practical hints on moral behaviour; the second was the Hyfforddwr , or ‘Instructor’ and a question and answer catechism on the Christian doctrines; the third was an exposition of the Ten Commandments.
One of the distinguishing features of the Welsh Sunday School, and a remarkable achievement of Thomas Charles, was its ‘all age’ organisation. The ‘senior class’ provided a continuation of instruction absent in the English system and needed superior and more knowledgeable teachers. It was not uncommon to see grandparents discussing theological issues, such as ‘Justification by Faith’ in one class, or even learning to read, and the grandchildren in another part of the room learning the alphabet.
However, when it comes to teaching methods what we would regard as outdated and inefficient was deemed to be progressive and in line with current trends.
Teaching was still mainly mechanical and the children taught in large groups with the aim simply of reading the Bible and thereby imparting knowledge of the scriptures.
A standard approach used questioning whole groups who would all come back with the same answer – what has been described as “the noise of many waters.” This catechetical approach enabled children and adults to memorise large sections of the Bible which would be recited in the Sunday School or in gatherings of a number of schools where there would be competition between them. In one account a little girl aged 5 is reported to have recited 100 chapters of the Bible.
Although the commissioners of the ‘Blue Books’ in their report of 1847 were brutal in their condemnation of the schools of Wales, they had some good things to say about the Sunday Schools.
Although they may have lost their importance today and were never adequate in providing a general education, they were regarded as ‘real fields of mental activity’ yet also seen as limited largely to reading the scriptures in a repetitive way and moral and religious instruction. They were never a substitute for day school, although they were recognised as the major force for literacy in the Welsh language.
