Emma Artusi 4^O 16/05/2020 WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VICTORINA AGE SCHOOLS AND CURRENT SCHOOLS? Schools and classrooms have changed vastly over time in Britain. Until the Victorian era, not all children were able to attend school. For a long time, only children from rich families were able to go to school. They were typically taught at home by governess until the age of 10 years old. Wealthy boys from the age of 10 would then go to Public schools such as Rugby. Girls on the other hand continued to be educated at home. The poor were initially introduced to school thanks to the ‘Sunday school’ introduction by Robert Raikes with about 1,250,000 children gaining an education with this method by 1831. In 1870, a law was passed which stated that all children aged between 5 and 10 must attend school. Victorian schools were very different to the schools we have today. In very poor areas, some Victorian classrooms would have up to 70 or 80 children. Now schools usually have 30 children in each class. Boys and girls in the past were often taught in different rooms and learnt about different things whilst children now share classrooms and are taught the same curriculum. The classroom has also changed due to advancements in technology, making the modern-day classroom an interactive learning environment. The schools were imposing buildings with high up windows to prevent children from seeing out of. Furthermore the walls of the schools lacked creativity and were often bare or had merely text for the children to look at. Village schools typically had smaller classes however the age groups would be varied. It wasn’t uncommon to see a 6-year-old child working in the same classroom as a 10-year-old! Due to the size of the school classrooms it became regimented and adopted a significant amount of repetition. Usually this would consist of the classroom teacher writing on the chalkboard and the children copying this down. Teaching lacked creativity and it was a strict, uncomfortable place for children to begin their life education. In terms of lessons they were basic but focused on the 3 R’s of Reading, wRiting & aRtmetic (Maths) with the introduction of religion to make this the not so fantastic four. The initial three were seen as the most important areas of education at the time and a vast majority of school time involved the learning of these.
