Welsh Journals

Aspects of Change in Secondary Education in Pembrokeshire, 1880-1930. When the Aberdare Committee was appointed in 1880 to inquire into the condition of Intermediate and Higher Education in Wales", the blue-print for future development in secondary education in England and Wales had already been laid down in the recom- mendations of the Clarendon Commission which had investigated the major public schools of England, and the Taunton Commission which had investigated every other endowed grammar school in the two countries. Neither Commission had any doubts about the value of the essentially classical education associated with the schools and par- ticularly with the public schools and the ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Some curricular change was already taking place even in the great public schools when the Clarendon Commission set about its work, but both Commissions emphasised in their recommendations the need to take positive action to provide for an extension of the trad- itional curriculum to include English studies, Modern Languages, Science and practical and aesthetic subjects. Not that all schools should aspire to teach all subjects. The Taun- ton Commission, indeed, spelt out in considerable detail criteria governing what it iden- tified as three grades of secondary education appropriate to the educational aspirations of middle-class parents and to their ability and inclination to pay for a secondary educa- tion which might extend to 14 or 16 or 18/19 years of age. While all schools would provide for English studies, at least some Latin, one or more modern foreign languages, mathematics, science and practical subjects, only in those schools providing for pupils to the age of 18 or 19 would Greek and Ancient History form part of the curriculum. A first- class education was defined as an education that included Greek, and the schools that pro- vided it as schools of the first grade. It was accepted that in the circumstances of the time the number of such schools must inevitably be limited. (1) The Aberdare Committee settled down in the autumn and winter of 1880 and 1881 to hear evidence at centres all over Wales as well as in London. The Taunton Commission had, of course, already carried out visits of inspection to every endowed grammar school in Wales in the mid-1860's and had in effect covered the detailed field-work relating to one aspect of the Aberdare Committee's inquiry. It is certainly clear from the questions addressed to witnesses by Lord Aberdare and the Charity Commission member of his committee, Prebendary H.G. Robinson, that they were at pains to commend the wisdom and relevance of the recommendations of the Taunton Commission to the needs of Wales. The committee had decided views, for example, on such matters as the number of schools of different grades appropriate to Wales, the distribution and size of schools, and the relationship of the proposed new Intermediate schools to the University College at Aberystwyth and new colleges which might be established in North and South Wales. For Wales, with the exception of Monmouthshire, the committee recommended no more than six schools of the first grade, these being Bangor, Ruthin, Brecon, Ystrad Meurig, Llandovery and Cowbridge. It was thought that in the circumstances of Wales, schools of the second grade would be generally be more appropriate with schools of the third grade in the densely populated industrial valleys of South Wales. (2) Some influential witnesses appearing before the committee supported these views. The Warden of Llandovery Col-