History of education in Wales

The history of education in Wales spans from the period of Roman rule to the present day. Early forms of formal education were church or privately run and available to only a small segment of the population. In the 17th and 18th centuries significant efforts were made, mainly by charitable causes, to expand access to basic education. In the 19th century a state education system developed. By the end of the century, education had become free and compulsory for children aged 5 to 12 years. Further increases in the school leaving age and the development of a system of secondary schools led by the mid-20th century to universal secondary education—separate secondary schools for students of different academic abilities ended by 1980.

Education has been conducted in English, Welsh and historically Latin. In the 19th century Welsh was often repressed by schools. In the 20th century the language gradually gained a more prominent role in the education system. In the 21st century all pupils under the age of 16 are taught Welsh as a subject, and a significant minority of schools use Welsh as a language of instruction. The first university in Wales was founded in 1872, though Welsh students had previously received higher education elsewhere or in other kinds of institutions. In the late 20th century the numbers enrolling in university increased sharply. As of 2021 almost a third of people over 16 have a university-level education.

Roman and medieval eras
The Roman province of Britannia (which included modern day Wales) is generally considered to have had relatively low levels of literacy, by the standards of the Roman Empire, and there is little record of formal education. Writing tablets have been recovered in the Roman military fort of Isca Augusta (modern day Caerleon, Newport). In the period after Roman withdrawal from Great Britain literacy in what is today Wales was largely restricted to the clergy. They were educated in monastic settlements, which were centres of learning. Illtud established one at Llantwit Major which was particularly known for its scholarship. For most people the wide range of skills and knowledge needed for the work they did was passed orally from one generation to the next. Bards played a significant role in maintaining cultural memory.

Throughout much of the Middle Ages even the highest-ranking members of the lay population could often go without formal education, though this steadily changed. Towards the end of the period the growth of towns and the increased use of writing in the justice system led to more need for bureaucracy. Meanwhile the skills needed for many trades were becoming increasingly complex and the vocational education of the period, seven-year apprenticeships, was controlled by the guilds. Aristocratic children could receive their education through private tuition, but those aiming for a career in the Church would usually attend grammar schools generally linked to cathedrals. These schools gave a classical education based on the trivium and the quadrivium. The seven subjects of study were grammar, dialectic/rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. The impact of the Black Death and the Glyndŵr rebellion harmed the Welsh elite's prospects for education, but there was a steady expansion in the 15th century. There was also a growing appreciation of the value of formal education and increasing demand for it among wealthier landowners. However the growth of formal education was slower in Wales than in England. In Wales formal education remained almost entirely dominated by the Church until after 1500.

16th and 17th centuries
According to historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne Roderick, the 16th century saw a growth in demand for formal education among "the middling sort of people — merchants, professional people, shopkeepers, freeholders, skilled craftsmen and lesser landowners". They wrote that this was a result of a more stable social situation, greater respect and practical need for education; along with the Laws in Wales Acts which made Wales a part of the Kingdom of England and created a more developed system of local government. In the 16th and 17th centuries, several new grammar schools were established to cater to this demand. Often schools did not have purpose-built buildings but used other facilities such as churches. When schoolhouses were built there was little sense of schools being their own category of building, and they tended to resemble the residential houses of the time. Teaching was always conducted in a single room and the norm was only one schoolmaster. Schools frequently included accommodation for the master, usher (assistant teacher) and sometimes boarding pupils. There was at least one example in Wales of a grammar school including a field for boys to play.

The grammar schools were all boys' schools. They catered to a varied age range, sometimes as wide as from 8 to 19 years. However, they were essentially secondary schools, which expected boys to be literate before enrolling. The pupil numbers were generally fairly low, ranging from about twenty to 120 at the largest school in Ruthin. The emphasis of instruction was on Latin and less often Ancient Greek. The Renaissance ideal of a wider curriculum had little practical effect on schools; if anything teaching became narrower, with more emphasis on grammar and literature taught through reciting and dictation. There was some criticism of this approach at the time, but this had next to no practical effect. Discipline was strict, with the birch being used to punish both bad behaviour and poor academic progress. Fees were usually expected. Grammar schools were frequently required by their original endowments to provide some free places but the cost of materials needed for lessons restricted the boys that could take them up. The upper end of the gentry often sent their sons to more prestigious grammar schools in England. Despite their limitations the increasing number of grammar schools provided a major expansion in education availability for boys, but opportunities for girls were much more limited. Young gentlewomen were sometimes educated to a high-level at home.

Alongside the grammar schools, there were a small number of schools providing elementary education. For instance one school in Montgomeryshire described its aim in 1549 as being to teach "young beginners only to write and sing, and to read so far as the Accidence Rules, but no grammar". Endowments for elementary schools often referenced "children" rather than "boys" or "scholars", suggesting that they might have admitted girls. There were a variety of other more informal ways that some children may have received some basic education. For example, tutors employed to educate the offspring of the wealthy might expand their lessons to a wider group of children; and some priests also taught. However, for the vast majority of the population in the 16th and much of the 17th century formal education was unattainable. In the early 17th century around 20% of people in Wales were literate in Welsh or English. Historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne Roderick argue that the peasantry generally was not interested in literacy as it held little practical advantage for them.

The Reformation changed the typical experience of religious education. Previously with services recited in Latin by priests, often with little understanding, most people's main engagement with religion had come from the images that decorated places of worship. These were discarded with the Reformation, and the growing Puritan movement became concerned about poor levels of literacy. As Wales had particularly low levels of education and had been one of the most royalist areas in the Civil War, Oliver Cromwell's government decided that state intervention was needed. A 1650 Act appointed a commission that established sixty schools in Wales; these partially resembled the grammar schools but also gave an elementary-level education. They were funded by the church. These schools were short-lived: only 21 still existed by 1660 and they disappeared entirely after the Restoration. There was ultimately little evidence that the kinds of people they were intended for wanted their children to go to school. In the early 1670s clergyman Thomas Gouge began to preach in Wales; by 1675 he had established 87 schools which were attended by a total of 2225 children. The schools were intended "to teach the poor Welsh children to read and write English, cast Accompts [numeracy] and repeat the Catechism." They closed after he died in 1681. The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) was founded in 1699 with similar aims. Though it operated across England and Wales; four of this organisation's five founders had Welsh links.

18th century
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 significantly more success. Historian Malcolm Seaborne argues 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. In 18th-century England and Wales schools were operated by private business, charity and the church, and became reasonably common. According to historian W.B. 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 SPCK, but later foundings tended to be associated with the "circulating [travelling] school movement" which originated in Wales. The second group catered for both children and adults. 96 SPCK schools were established 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 the skills they would need in life: for instance working with textiles for girls and farm-work or seafaring for boys. This even extended to arranging apprenticeships for boys and attempting to watch over them after they 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. However because of the government's fear of a largely imagined threat of Jacobitism in Wales, the Welsh SPCK schools had an especially heavy emphasis on religion. The circulatory schools were developed by Griffith Jones, a priest in the Church of England. The schools would only teach the ability to read, with other subjects forbidden. They would run for three months during the period when demand for labour was lowest, usually winter. Accommodation would be 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 various patrons, many of whom were English as well as Welsh. He informed them about the progress of the schools through an annual publication Welch Piety. Historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne Roderick commented on the success of the schools:"The circulatory schools were among the most important educational experiments anywhere in Europe in the eighteenth century. Between 1731 and 1761 it has been estimated that 3,325 schools were held and as many as 250,000 scholars - something like half the population of children and adults - taught to read. Within this limited definition, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the schools were responsible for making Wales a literate nation, and the fame of the schools was widespread throughout Europe... the spread of reading skills on this scale not only rested on the provision of religious literature but also fostered a demand for it... The Bible became a desired and precious possession in innumerable households across Wales, among even the poorest sections of society.." By the late 18th century the circulatory schools had largely faded away, replaced by Sunday schools. These developed from the 1780s onwards. Early Sunday schools tended to admit adults as well as children. In Wales, they were generally nonconformist and often associated with the Methodist revival. Welsh Sunday Schools tended to focus on religion and reading, avoiding the wider secular education sometimes taught at Sunday Schools elsewhere. 79 endowments for elementary schools in Wales were made by individuals between 1700 and 1800. Most were made by non-church officials and some were made by women, providing a slight increase in the availability of education for poorer girls. The schools were spread across all counties; Denbighshire had the greatest number. Usually they consisted of a single schoolroom, but there was an increase in specially built multi-storey accommodation towards the end of the century. However they often used other facilities such as religious buildings, the schoolmaster's house or market buildings. The various new forms of education targeted at the poor were not without their critics. Some people, even among those who gave them financial support, worried that the peasantry was being over-educated and exposed to disruptive ideas, especially towards the end of the 18th century.

Historian T.B Stephens wrote that a number of commercially-run schools aimed at the working classes and organised by people of the same social background also existed. Dame schools were intended for very young children and often taught little. Common day schools taught an elementary-level curriculum to a slightly older age-range. Schools in these groups were common across Britain and becoming more widespread.

There was a certain degree of decline in grammar schools during this period, though there was some evidence of an increase in demand. Some of them disappeared or declined into elementary schools. The gentry had become smaller, wealthier and more detached from the lands they owned; they tended to prefer to send their sons to the English public schools and were less interested in financing grammar schools. The endowments made in the 16th and 17th centuries were increasingly financially inadequate, and enforced a classical education which seemed outdated to the parents of some potential pupils. The grammar schools became more reliant on their fee-paying pupils and frequently expanded with more accommodation for boarding pupils. This led to schools evolving into institutions closer to the modern idea of a public school, but this was more the case in England than in Wales. There was an expansion in the teaching of non-classical subjects in grammar schools, which seems to have often particularly benefited the wealthiest pupils. Commenting on the case of Friars School in Bangor, Malcolm Seaborne quotes an unnamed historian as saying that "at this period there was in Friars more than at any previous time since the foundation of the school, a cliche of rich boys who enjoyed special tuition and privileges denied to the poorer scholars".

Early 19th century
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. However 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. 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. Schooling was believed to be an effective response to these problems. In an 1843 report HMI 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". 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.

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". In practice a large majority of voluntary schools belonged to the latter group which had various practical advantages. The schools attempted to maximise the children taught by using the monitorial system with older, more able pupils passing on information from their teacher to the other children. In Wales the Anglican schools were reported to be poorly attended as nonconformists, who formed a clear majority of the Welsh population by the middle of the century, preferred private schools; although the proportion of day school pupils at private schools fell in Wales from 58% in 1833 to 26% in 1851. Another form of elementary education available in this period were works schools run by industrialists for the education of the children of their workers.

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. One estimate is that 85% of children in Wales between five and fifteen years old were not in day school in 1821. 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. Also in 1844, 58% of grooms and 39% of brides in North Wales counties were able to do so, the ratio being lower than any Scottish or English county other than Monmouthshire (then part of England) and Staffordshire. Girls' education was given less importance than that of boys during this period and their participation in day schools was lower. The number of people who were able to write was also lower than those who could read 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:"... 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."

Growing government involvement
From 1833 the voluntary schools began to receive government funding. 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". In contrast, 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". 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 the history of England. 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..."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. 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." The Newcastle Commission led to the introduction of the Revised Code of 1862. The code introduced a system of payment by results, with grants given based on pupils' knowledge of the three Rs and attendance. The code has been praised for its perceived objectivity as well as for encouraging teachers to focus on literacy and numeracy. 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 whom 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. He alleged 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.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, but with significant geographical variations. 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 developed state education systems. In Wales, political pressure for change took the form of the Educational Alliance Society founded in 1870.

Secondary education
Secondary education provision during this period was very limited in Wales. The situation was much worse than in England, which was itself not particularly impressive by international standards. 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. 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 the 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 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, girls were especially poorly catered for. The Howell Foundation had established two girls' schools in 1860 based on the endowment of a draper, which were mainly attended by Anglicans. An equivalent girls' school aimed at non-conformists would not be founded until 1878. Some families also employed governesses for teenage girls. The Taunton Commission noted an apathy about 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.

Late Victorian elementary education
According to historian T. B. Stephens the Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 75) 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. Compulsory education was introduced for 5- to 10-year-olds across England and Wales by the Elementary Education Act 1880 (43 & 44 Vict. c. 23). 10- to 13-year-olds could leave school once they had reached a certain academic standard. 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.

Some school boards were very active in expanding school provision. Many new schools were built by the boards over the thirty years after their introduction; the overall number of schools more than doubled. 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 were Nonconformist schools. 65% of school places were at board schools which were concentrated to a large extent in urbanised areas. Rural school boards also contributed to the expansion of education. Although certain rural school boards were described as being of low standard; sectarian and inactive. At the time of the 1870 Education Act, many school buildings were of poor quality, lacking proper facilities and healthy conditions. The Education department pushed for improvements. Some boards with fewer resources employed local builders to design their new schools but most recruited professional architects. The appearance of schools was a point of pride for boards and varied by locality.

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. The payment-by-results scheme encouraged an emphasis on rote learning and teaching to the test. Although the curriculum steadily expanded with payments available to schools for results in history, geography, science, domestic science, metalwork and woodwork. Topics such as needlework and cookery were added to the curriculum for girls. The perceived purpose of education for working-class girls was to prepare them to become domestic servants and later housewives; when it was hoped they would become a moral influence on their husbands.

While the schools provided a basic education for almost all children they were not without their limitations. 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. An agent of Lord Powis told a parliamentary enquiry in 1902 that he believed between 40% and 50% of children in the Welshpool area were out of school at harvest time, magistrates were reluctant to convict and even local education officials in mid-Wales put their children to work.

Aberdare Committee, intermediate schools and evening classes
The Aberdare Committee of 1881 emphasised the need for improved secondary education, especially for girls. 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" or higher elementary schools. These were encouraged by the committee in industrial areas and established by school boards in 1880s. 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. The committee led to the Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 40) predating similar legislation in England by thirteen years.

By around 1900 there were 7,000 children in the intermediate schools including almost as many girls as boys. A plurality of the schools were single-sex, a large number catered for both sexes in a segregated manner while a small number were mixed. 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. They were also required to teach singing and marshal-style exercises. 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 public schools including uniforms, sport on Saturdays, prefects and school clubs. A degree of overlap developed between the age groups catered for by these schools and elementary schools. 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. Commenting on the legacy of the intermediate schools historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne Roderick wrote that, on the eve of World War I, young people in Wales were more likely to enter secondary school or university than anywhere else in Western Europe other than Scotland.

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. Though they reached a lower proportion of the population than in England, Scotland or Ireland.

Edwardian era
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". Class sizes remained large, instruction was focused on the three Rs and the cane was 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. Guidance for elementary schools in 1904 commented that they provided "training in followership rather than leadership training, suited to the working classes". These attitudes reflected traditional fears about the working classes being educated beyond their position in the world, along with prejudices that they had little capacity to benefit from education.

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. The Education Act 1902 (2 Edw. 7 c. 42), which established the local education authorities, was deeply opposed by the nonconformists 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. There was a prolonged struggle between the local authorities and the 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.

In 1907 the Welsh department was established within the Board of Education. The department was headed by Owen Edwards, who supported introducing a curriculum more specific to Wales, and had some success in implementing it. His main impact was on Welsh language teaching, which is discussed elsewhere in this article. He also pushed for more teaching of Welsh history, geography and culture but Ann Keane gives little evidence of how much impact that had. 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. From the point of view of the local authorities, it was a simpler way of establishing secondary schools than the system established by the 1889 Act. Edwards disliked the secondary schools' focus on rote learning, exams and lack of lessons in practical skills relevant to the local economy, though he was fighting against the grain of public opinion at the time. The growing numbers of working-class parents making sacrifices to get their children a secondary education wanted them to escape dangerous manual labour, not to be trained for it. 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 conducting physical examinations of pupils. 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 era. In the chapter on her schooling, she describes lessons in art, Welsh medieval 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 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."

First World War and interwar years
The First World War had a fairly limited immediate impact on education in Wales. Some school buildings were requisitioned for military use and a shortage of male teachers had a particular effect on secondary schools. A suspension of new school buildings led to an increase in class sizes, especially in secondary schools, where enrolment increased sharply in the later war years. The inspectorate believed that pupils had been unsettled by the war, but this was not reflected in exam results. The school inspectorate also underwent an erosion of its staff. The war coincided with the introduction of compulsory education for disabled children. The conflict did have a significant effect on the future of education, as it led to discussion of the effect of rival powers' education systems on their war efforts. In 1917 the Lewis Report by the Board of Education was released, resulting in the Education Act 1918 (8 & 9 Geo. 5. c. 39) being passed. The Act increased the minimum school leaving age to fourteen. Other provisions included some financial changes which benefited the education system, and the creation of central schools. These schools were a new form of quasi-secondary school similar to the higher-grade schools of the late 19th century. Parents and some politicians were sceptical of them, seeing them as a poor substitute for other forms of education after elementary school. The Act also included various other proposals for reforming the education system which were not implemented. Around the time of WWI the subjects listed on inspection reports as being taught at elementary schools included "English, Arithmetic, history and geography, music and drawing". Practical subjects might also be included, such as "needlework, laundry, handicraft, hygiene and school gardens". While academic orthodoxy around teaching methods, especially for younger children, was changing by the interwar period, this had little practical effect on schools. The primary focus of education in Wales remained on pupils memorising information. Teaching practices did gradually improve during the first half of the 20th century and the curriculum became broader in subjects such as history, geography and nature studies, especially in larger elementary schools. Lessons in speaking became more common, and school trips were encouraged. Government funding cuts during the Great Depression were difficult for schools. While participation was starting to decline, chapels remained a significant source of informal religious and cultural education in both English and Welsh.

Demand for secondary education continued to increase in the post-World War I period, and opportunities grew due to a fall in birth rates, even as the financial situation got worse. By 1931 19% of elementary school pupils in Wales transitioned to secondary school at the age of about 11 years old, a significantly higher proportion than in England, while the rest remained at elementary school until the age of fourteen. However high rates of early dropout from secondary school, which had already been a problem, continued in the difficult economic environment of the 1920s and especially the 1930s. Even though increasing numbers of secondary school places were now free, the additional costs of keeping a child in school as well as the loss of their potential wages meant that there was a strong temptation to leave at the age of fourteen. Very long travel times added to the appeal of this option. For instance, in 1922 it was reported that pupils in Barmouth County School's journey back and forth to school began at 5 am and ended at 7 pm. Various proposals were made throughout the interwar period for all children to transition from elementary school to secondary school at 11 or 12 years old. The idea of possibly raising the school leaving age was also suggested. However, none of these plans came to fruition, so the school system of 1939 was very similar in structure to its counterpart at the start of the 20th century.

World War II and preparation for reform
During World War II around 200,000 children were moved from London, Liverpool and the West Midlands of England to Wales as part of the evacuation scheme. This led to serious overcrowding in the education system. This was heightened by a suspension of new school building and a significant shortage of staff. Local authorities reached solutions such as using village halls as schools and rotating part-time classes. Within Wales the areas badly affected by air raids were Cardiff and Swansea, leading to the loss of various school buildings. At schools free milk was provided and at a time of food shortages the number of children using free school meals increased significantly. School inspection reports, which continued partially during the war years, give mixed evidence of how well schools were coping with the pressures placed on them. For instance a report on Reynoldston school commented that:"The average attendance has decreased from 81.8[%] in 1927–28 to 39.8[%] in 1941–42 … The average attendance of the visiting [evacuee] pupils in 1941–42 was 41.3[%]: they come mainly from the areas of the L.C.C., Ealing and Swansea Education Authorities."Education formed part of the general desire for a fresh start after the war and social reform. In June 1941 the Board of Education asked educational organisations for their proposals on establishing a new education system in England and Wales. In Wales, the Federation of Education Committees in particular made detailed proposals which fairly closely resembled the end result. In July 1943 the government published a reform proposal called Education Reconstruction. This document proposed a system of universal, compulsory education from age five to eighteen. The term elementary school would be abolished and children would instead attend primary school up to the age of 11. They would then be sent to one of multiple types of secondary schools of equal status. The school leaving age would be increased to fifteen immediately and sixteen as soon as practical. Teenagers aged 15 to 18 who did not stay at school would be required to attend a young person's college part-time. Meanwhile, Cyril Norwood wrote a report endorsing a variety of school types and argued that every child was naturally suited to one of three types of schools: grammar, modern or technical. The government proposals led to the 1944 Education Act (7 & 8 Geo. 6. c. 31).

Legacy of the 1944 Act
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. Additionally 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: secondary moderns were seen as a poor alternative to grammars, and the latter group received 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. The traditional view of a woman's primary role in life being as a wife and mother had a particular influence on secondary modern schools. The central government was resistant to any attempt by local authorities to introduce any system that might undermine grammar schools. In rural areas, a degree of integration often had to take place between the different school types for practical reasons. Bilateral schools which provided a segregated system within a single school were sometimes used as a compromise. Local authorities were generally resistant to the creation of state secondary schools intended to cater to particular religious groups and relatively few were established in Wales.

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 for older children in the infants varied: some teachers used explicit instruction and others took 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. In other subjects such as "history, geography, art and nature study", 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. Primary school inspection reports often criticised insufficient focus on Welsh topics in lessons.

Later 20th-century development
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. 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. By 1965 there were 102,000 students in adult education in Wales and 65,946 in vocational further education in 50 colleges; 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. 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. 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. However various government schemes intended to replace the declining apprenticeship system had limited success.

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. 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. However, there was a degree of reluctance both towards 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, but these became politically controversial. Another issue was that pupils' results at 16 and above were consistently poorer than in England. In 1980 about 1 in 4 young people in Wales left school without any qualifications. Primary schools in the 1960s were influenced by the trend away from the 11-plus examination. 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. 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 was that universal part-time nursery would be established for pre-school 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; by the end of the 1970s, the central government had reasserted a greater degree of control over primary schools. However, while some new methods were being experimented with, the method of teaching at primary schools in Wales did not change dramatically overall and was often quite limited, according to Roy James. The Aberfan disaster destroyed a village junior school in 1966, killing many children.

In 1970 responsibility for primary and secondary education in Wales was transferred to the Welsh Office, a department of the UK government. However, 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. 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 Jones and 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 previously.

The Education Reform Act 1988 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. Previously schools, and to a large extent individual teachers, had a great deal of autonomy over what they taught, leading to inconsistent standards. The Welsh curriculum was developed in 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 Cymreig" (Welsh curriculum) was introduced in the 1990s to add an emphasis on Wales-related topics into the curriculum. This was also a fairly novel concept. Aside from teaching of the Welsh language, official guidance of this nature had previously been relatively limited. However a report produced by Estyn in 2001 suggested that the success of this endeavour had been quite limited and varied significantly between subjects, schools and regions.

Devolution era
Following a change of government in 1997 the new government enacted its policy of giving significant governing powers to elected bodies based in Scotland and Wales. Referendums were held on this matter later that year, which passed in Wales by a narrow margin, and two years later the first elections to these institutions were held. Education was one of the policy areas placed under the new National Assembly for Wales's control. David Egan was a school inspector who worked as an advisor to the Welsh Government for periods in the early 21st century. He wrote that the policies pursued by the devolved government in Wales in education, during the first decade after 1999, were driven by the Welsh section of the Labour Party's desire to appear distinct from the Labour party-led UK government. Policies introduced during this period included the foundation phase (a play-based curriculum for young children ), the Welsh Baccalaureate, the end of standardised testing for children in their middle years at school and an end to public comparisons between school's results. The question of how distinctive education policy in Wales was during those years has been debated. Some commentators have suggested that the Welsh government often adopted proposals that were only slight variances on English policies or simply chose to remain with an older status quo when changes were made in England, an approach which had sometimes previously been taken by the Welsh office.

A 2005 report argued that in the years after devolution education policy in the four constituent countries of the UK had diverged: for example, England had pursued reforms intended to create a wider range of options for families while Wales (and Scotland) focused on a more universal experience of schooling. The way that education was administered had become increasingly varied across the UK. In 2008 education researcher David Reynolds claimed that policy in Wales was driven by a "producerist" paradigm emphasising collaboration between educational partners. He alluded to lower funding in Welsh schools compared to England, echoing similar concerns at the university level. Finally he concluded that performance data did not suggest that Wales had improved more rapidly than England, although there were considerable difficulties in making this type of assessment. Historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne Roderick wrote in 2003 about the contemporary situation of the small number of schools in Wales that were not funded by the state. According to them some were older institutions in the style typically associated with public schools while others tended to be small with low fees and poor facilities.

In the PISA tests of 2007 and 2010 Wales performed poorly in comparison to the other nations of the United Kingdom. Egan has argued that the difficulties faced by children from English-speaking households in Welsh-medium education contributed to the results as well as Wales' relative poverty. This led to Leighton Andrews, the Welsh education minister, instituting a variety of policies in the early 2010s intended to push school improvements more forcefully. Standardised testing was reintroduced in literacy and numeracy, schools were put into groups based on performance and regional consortia were given more power to push improvement. This response was criticised by some as being an overreaction which led to too much focus on testing in the school system. The mid-2010s saw a gradual move away from this approach. The 2018 PISA tests saw Wales' results improving but remaining the weakest of the four education systems of the UK in all subjects. In 2014 the Welsh Government commissioned Graham Donaldson, a professor at the University of Glasgow who had worked on reforms to education in Scotland, to conduct a report on reforming the curriculum in Wales. The following year he recommended a variety of changes, including greater emphasis on computer skills, giving schools more control over what they taught and creating more of a sense of natural progression through school. A few months later the Welsh Education Minister, Huw Lewis promised that the report would be implemented in full within eight years. Although the new curriculum was initially planned to begin being taught in 2021, it was later delayed until 2022. It applies to all learners aged from three to sixteen in maintained or funded non-maintained nursery education. The curriculum is designed to include more emphasis on skills, experiences and areas such as "digital skills, adaptability and creativity" as well as knowledge. It groups education into six "Areas of Learning and Experience", intended to help teachers draw links between subjects and teach topics in a broad way, though traditional subjects are still taught. Within a basic framework of goals and learning areas, it gives schools the freedom to develop their own curriculum to suit the needs of their pupils.Schools were closed for periods of 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the 2022 PISA tests Wales' scores fell more sharply than the average across participating countries in reading and science. Results reached their lowest ever level in maths, science and reading. A report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies argued that the differences between the performance of children in Wales and England could not be solely put down to higher levels of poverty in the former, as Welsh children from households across the income spectrum achieved significantly poorer results than their equivalents in England. The report noted that the Welsh education system tended to have poorer outcomes than its English counterpart including a greater gap in GCSE performance based on economic background, higher youth unemployment and lower university enrolment.

Language in early forms of education
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 reinforced the importance of 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 adequate English before starting, though there was criticism at the time that some had not. A few are known to have explicitly forbidden any usage of Welsh in instruction. The known elementary-level schools of the 16th and 17th centuries had endowments which specified the use of English. They were mainly located in eastern areas of Wales where English was in common use. The schools established by Cromwell's government taught a grammar school-level education in Latin and a more basic level in English. The schools established by Thomas Gouge were conducted in English.

Historian T.B. Stephens observed that in 18th-century charity schools, "the vernacular [local language] was used as a medium of instruction more readily [in Wales] than in Gaelic-speaking parts of Scotland". The typical medium of instruction in the SPCK schools was English but speaking Welsh in the schools was not restricted and over 12 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 their patrons but the practice was defended by Griffith Jones. He 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. Endowments for 18th-century elementary schools sometimes specified Welsh or English as the language to be used but according to historian Malcolm Seaborne, this did not always reflect the reality of how lessons were conducted. 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.

Exclusion of the Welsh language
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". The report, released in 1847, caused great offence in Wales due to its negative depiction of the Welsh language and the moral character of the Welsh people ; although 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. Historian Gregg Russell describes its substance, aside from its insulting tone, as "a detailed picture of educational poverty". Historians Gareth Elwyn Jones and Gordon Wynne Roderick wrote that the educational aspects of the report's criticism were broadly reasonable. They suggest that the writers of report, who were young university graduates, might have misinterpreted problems that affected working people across Britain as specifically Welsh defects.

The report 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. Jones and 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 being a deliberate expression of anti-Welsh sentiment. The regional dialects of the English working classes were also criticised in other educational reports. At the time nonconformists generally interpreted the report as an English and Anglican attack on the Welsh, while some Anglican churchmen criticised its tone. 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, which was seen as the language of secular knowledge. Welsh was a language associated with the working classes which had no official recognition or prestige. One 1846 study of day schools in Brecon, Radnor and Cardigan found that only one taught any Welsh. Later, when funding was based on academic performance, results in Welsh were excluded from the revised code of 1862, so they held no financial benefit for schools. In 1870 around three-quarters of people in Wales were able to speak Welsh; a majority spoke it as their first language and for a number, particularly in rural areas, it was their sole language. Children and teachers often had limited English, causing difficulties with teaching. Some critics suggested using Welsh as a means of teaching English, though most school inspectors and other influential figures were against the idea. Teaching in Welsh was widely available in Sunday Schools, and some people who were sympathetic to the language suggested that chapels were the institutions best placed to preserve it. One of the more iconic symbols of educational attitudes to the Welsh language during this period is the Welsh Not. 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. The Welsh Not would become a focus of great bitterness in the long term. However, according to historian John Davies, when it was used at the time it would have been with the endorsement of parents. Beriah Evans, a former teacher, told an 1887 government committee that "I, as a schoolmaster did what was at one time an universal custom, and caned my boys for using in my hearing their mother tongue."

Growing acceptance of the Welsh language
Reflecting 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. This was despite Wales increasingly becoming a predominantly English-speaking society, for reasons largely unrelated to education. Teaching of Welsh in elementary schools became a possibility in the 1880s. 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. Some school boards did try to introduce the subject but it was entirely optional. Any such lessons used English as the medium of instruction, and it was mainly taught as an aid for teaching English. In 1899 to 1900 only 0.8 percent of pupils were taught Welsh as a subject. 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 11. 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. Around 40% of pupils in intermediate schools took exams in Welsh, in comparison to 67% in French; and Welsh would not have been a language of instruction. French was assessed as a second language while Welsh was assessed as a first language, which meant that French was an easier option for many students.

Even with some increase in the use of Welsh at schools, censuses suggest 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. 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 youth organisation Urdd Gobaith Cymru (Welsh League of Hope) 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. In 1971 a Welsh individual living in Leicester wrote in a letter to a local newspaper that they could remember being caned for speaking Welsh at school playtime as a child in around 1940.

Early Welsh-medium schools
In 1939 the first Welsh-medium primary school was established independently of the state by the Urdd in Aberystwyth. In some areas, English children evacuated to Welsh-speaking areas of Wales during the Second World War are known to have quickly become fluent in Welsh. However, the movement of workers, soldiers and children into rural Wales during that war generally had the effect of making those areas more English-speaking. This gave an impetus to the movement for Welsh language education. 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.

The 1948 school inspection report on Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth, the first formally Welsh-medium primary school, was very positive, commenting that teaching included "lively and varied activities with plenty of exercise for imagination and for creative work in language, in movement and in art" which taught children "treasures of Welsh lore, song and legend" and "later... knowledge of English language, literature, song and story, and... some understanding of the ways of peoples of other lands". In 1953 the government report The Place of Welsh and English in the Schools of Wales was published. At this time there were 14 Welsh medium primary schools with just over 1,000 pupils excluding some "naturally bilingual" schools in heavily Welsh-speaking areas. The report recommended that:"'The main concern of the teacher should be to establish every child securely in the control of his mother tongue, Welsh or English. At the same time it is an essential part of the work of the schools in Wales to relate all children to the two cultures that exist here side by side... Consequently … the children of the whole of Wales … should be taught Welsh and English according to their ability to profit from such instruction.'"The number of Welsh-medium primary schools in predominantly Welsh-speaking areas steadily expanded over the following years. By 1970 there were 41 Welsh medium primary schools with about 5,000 pupils. The first bilingual and Welsh medium secondary schools were founded in 1956 and 1962 respectively. The growth of Welsh-medium secondary education was slower than primary. Alun Morgan says this was due to a focus on gaining qualifications in English and a feeling in some areas that a heavy emphasis on Welsh matters was too narrow for secondary schools. He also suggests a "strongly Welsh-speaking and Nonconformist" school inspectorate was finding it difficult to persuade "an increasingly English-speaking and more secular Wales" to follow its advice.

Bilingual system
The proportion of Wales's population listed as Welsh speakers fell to a fifth in the 1971 census, a decline from 28% twenty years earlier. The remaining speakers were concentrated in rural West and NW Wales, where economic conditions were declining. This caused worry among supporters of the language, who wanted schools to do more to promote it. The Department of Education and Science was fairly neutral towards the subject of Welsh medium education, but two supportive government reports were released in the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, a growing number of Welsh medium and bilingual schools were opened in predominantly English-speaking urban areas. Young Welsh speakers were increasingly moving to Cardiff, adding to the demand for Welsh-medium education there, and some non-Welsh speaking parents sent their children to Welsh medium schools.

Meanwhile, growing numbers of non-Welsh-speaking families moved into predominantly Welsh-speaking rural areas. The 1977 report Welsh in the primary schools of Gwynedd, Powys and Dyfed was based on a mid-1970s study of schools that were mainly using a mixture of mediums of instruction. It found that schools were having difficulties maintaining and improving the Welsh of Welsh-speaking children; furthermore, the teaching of Welsh as a second language to the non-Welsh-speaking children was largely ineffective. Other research showed that among schools catering to a mixture of linguistic abilities, those that used Welsh as the primary language of instruction in the infants school tended to achieve similar levels of attainment in Welsh by the end of primary school among pupils of all backgrounds. There was also evidence from abroad that language immersion was the best way to make children bilingual. Therefore the school inspectorate pushed the creation of "officially designated bilingual/Welsh-medium schools even in areas where the Welsh language was traditionally strong but now losing ground".

By 1980 there were a significant number of Welsh medium or bilingual secondary schools. In the 1980s and 1970s a significant minority of primary schools did not teach any Welsh. A slight majority of secondary school students were not studying Welsh in the early 1980s. Until the end of the 1980s, the central government largely allowed local education authorities to decide how much of the language should be taught and the attitudes of individual local authorities were varied. Welsh-medium education was often controversial during this period, including among people who spoke Welsh as their first language. Supporters of the Welsh-medium schools were generally middle class and the movement was sometimes perceived as "social elitism and the promotion of an unhealthy nationalism"

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. 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. In 1995 there were more than 50,000 pupils in Welsh-medium primary education. Censuses suggest that the proportion of Welsh speakers increased in the last decade of the 20th century, but has since slightly declined. 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. In 2015 Meri Huws, the Commissioner for the Welsh Language, commented that "If you look at the [number of] young people who speak Welsh in Wales today, four out of five... [learnt] Welsh outside the home... They learn Welsh at school." However, according to comments made by statistician Hywel Jones in 2023 Welsh lessons do not necessarily lead to children being able to speak Welsh:"The main reason the figures [number of Welsh speakers in some surveys] are so high is that parents incorrectly report that their children can speak Welsh based on a few lessons a week in an English-medium school... Looking at the number of children in Welsh-medium education gives us a far more accurate picture."

Before universities in Wales
In the medieval period, a small number of Welshmen began to attend university outside of Wales. The earliest option was the University of Bologna in modern 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 a 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 3,000 attended the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge or Inns of Court in the hundred years after 1540. This expansion in demand was partially 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 medieval 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. For those that did graduate it typically took four years to gain a bachelor's degree and another three to become a Master of Arts. Gaining the latter 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 also 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 were some examples of dedicated students. One example of a more motivated scholar is 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.

Oxford and Cambridge Universities fell into decline in the 18th century with a curriculum that had evolved little since medieval 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. The academies were originally established mainly to train future dissenter ministers, but they also attracted Anglicans who saw them as being of a better standard than universities. 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. An indication of the kind of instruction given in the academy can be seen in guidance issued by the Presbyterian denominational board which contributed to the academy financially. In 1725 it warned prospective Presbyterian ministers that they would not receive employment..."unless it appears upon examination that they can render into English any paragraph of Tully's offices... that they read Psalm in Hebrew, translate into Latin any part of the Greek Testament... give a satisfactory account of their knowledge in the several sciences they studied at the Academy and draw up a thesis upon any question that will be proposed to them in Latin..." These colleges evolved into the theological colleges of the 19th century which were associated with Non-conformists. 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". Often men would receive a minimal education as children and spend years in working class jobs, initially taking up preaching in their spare time, before studying in a theological college. Some graduates found work in occupations outside the ministry. 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.

Early university colleges and political higher education
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 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. 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 had been repaid. 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, these were frequently farmers who studied agriculture. Women were initially allowed to study music at the college. 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. 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 college gained its own grant in 1886. Initially the colleges were affiliated with the University of London. 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. However they remained heavily reliant on the state and had less success with developing a technological curriculum.

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 colleges 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. 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.

Higher education since World War II
The Welsh university colleges 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 the University of Wales saw less of an uptake in science than elsewhere. At the time the reasons for this were felt to include a long-running cultural hostility to technical education in Wales and an affection for the humanities. An additional factor was considered to be 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. A 1963 report noted that the large majority of them were men and that there had been 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). The proportion of students at the University of Wales who had been born in Wales continued to decline 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.

The 1992 Further and Higher Education Act made the polytechnics into universities. 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. They were partially competing as businesses, partially controlled by the state. Means-tested grants were replaced with student loans and tuition fees were 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. In the 2021 Census 31.5% of permanent residents of Wales over the age of sixteen were recorded as having university-level qualifications.