Elizabethan England: Education

Question 1

What were the attitudes of education?

Answer 1

• there was no national system of schooling but it became increasingly valuable during Elizabethan England
• Existing social order was very important so the purpose of education was to prepare you for the life you were expected to lead - focused on practical skills and possibly basic literacy
• the view was that only the rich needed to attend

Question 2

How many people went to school?

Answer 2

only a small percentage of children went to school (mainly boys), very few girls had formal education

Question 3

Why did people think only the rich need to attend school?

Answer 3

because people saw no need to provide a formal education for the vast majority of the population, especially the labouring classes

Question 4

By the early 1500s, what were humanists arguing?

Answer 4

that education was valuable and that people should not just be educated for practical reasons

Question 5

What were protestant beliefs on education?

Answer 5

• that people should be able to read the bible to develop their own relationship with God
• This encouraged more people to become literate

Question 6

How did the growth of the printing press boost literacy?

Answer 6

growth of the printing press meant books became less expensive, giving people more opportunities to read

Question 7

How did the growth of trade in the Elizabethan era boost literacy?

Answer 7

development of business and trade made basic education more important as well as understanding maths so they could record transactions properly

Question 8

What were the features of nobility education?
• What did the girls learn
• What did the boys learn

Answer 8

• tutored at home
• Since Elizabeth was highly educated, nobility families also made sure their daughters were highly educated too
• Girls learnt music, dancing, needlework, horse riding and archery
• Boys leant horse riding and archery too along with fencing, swimming, wrestling and other sports thought only fitting for men

Question 9

What subjects were taught to nobility children?

Answer 9

• foreign languages (including Greek and Latin)
• history, philosophy, government and theology

Question 10

where were the older nobility children sent to?

Answer 10

other noble households to finish education

Question 11

Who were grammar schools for and what did it do?

Answer 11

• 10-14 aged boys considered bright, attended by the children of the middling sorts: gentry, professionals or wealthy business owners
• provided education independent from the church and charged fees depending on how much the boy’s family owed
• scholarships were available to poorer families

Question 12

What was the result of Grammar schools

Answer 12

there were more schools in England than there had ever been before

Question 13

How long were the school years and school days in grammar school?

Answer 13

• Long school years: there were only holidays at Easter and Christmas
• Long school days: 6 or 7 am and learned for 10hrs

Question 14

What did grammar schools teach?

Answer 14

• focused on Latin (best schools taught Greek/ French)
• also studied ancient, classical historians and philosophers and writers such as Plato, Aristotle, Virgil and Seneca
• for the sport they did archery, chess, wrestling and running

Question 15

What did Grammar schools put great emphasis on?

Answer 15

• memorising huge quantities of text, especially bible passages, many of which focused on teaching morals and manners
• public speaking and debating was though essential for well educated Elizabethan getlemen

Question 16

What were the discipline and punishments in Elizabethan schools? (5)

Answer 16

• being kept in at break time
• corporal punishment including caning
• being “on report” (monitored behaviour closely)
• exclusion from school
• expulsion

Question 17

What was the alternative curriculum that grammar schools ran for merchants and craftsmen?

Answer 17

this alternative curriculum focused more on practical academic subjects like: Arithmetic, English, writing and geography

Question 18

How was education like for the skilled craftsmen and yeomen?

Answer 18

• much of their education came in the form of apprenticeships, where they would learn what is necessary to run the family business or farm
• school wasn’t compulsory - depending on how parents’ valued school-based education

Question 19

What were petty schools and who went there

Answer 19

• schools run privately in teacher’s home
• attended by children of gentry, merchants, yeomen and craftsmen

-this is were boys began there
education before going to Grammar schools

Question 20

What are the features of petty schools?

Answer 20

• cost a lot
• taught reading and writing in English and basic arithmetic
• punishment was harsh - beating for poor behaviour or not doing well in lessons were common

Question 21

What were dame schools and what did it teach?

Answer 21

• schools for girls from well off families
• provided basic education - often run by local educated women
• education focused on the home (e.g preserving food, bake, brew, sew and treat simple ailments and injuries)

Question 22

What’s the deal with labourers and poor children’s’ education?
• children contributing to the family income
• what did they learn
• did they have formal education

Answer 22

• most of the population were farmers or labourers and had no formal, school-based education.
• they learned how to work on the land or in the house
• children needed to contribute to the family income from as early an age as possible - these jobs didn’t require literacy or numeracy

Question 23

What was the impact of schools on Elizabethans?

Answer 23

• 30% men and 10% of women were literate by the end of Elizabeth’s reign in 1603 compared to 20% of men and 10% women in the 1530s
• there were improvements for only men during the Elizabethan period
• Literacy improved, especially in the towns. this was the combined result of the press, parish schools and the need to read the scriptures

Question 24

What were universities and who were they for?

Answer 24

higher education for boys aged 14/15 onwards

Question 25

what were the two uni’s in England during the Elizabethan times

Answer 25

Oxford and Cambridge: they are made up of different colleges