education and leisure

• Elizabethan society

  • Early Elizabethan England
  • Education and leisure
• Education and leisure

  • Attitudes to education
  • New thinking on education
  • Education in the home
  • Grammar schools
  • Alternative curriculum
  • Discipline and punishments
  • Petty schools, girls and the poor
  • Conclusion
  • University
• Attitudes to education

  There was no national system of schooling, but education was seen as valuable. However, in this very hierarchical society, education was not easily available to the poor. The existing social order was very important to the Elizabethans, and any education you might receive was aimed at preparing you for the life you were expected to lead. Only a tiny fraction of children had any schooling and that was mostly boys - very few girls received any formal education.
• New thinking on education

  Some people in the C16th known as 'Humanists' believed that educating people was important, if they were to stop being so superstitious and fulfil their potential as human beings. Protestants felt people should be able to read the bible in their own language. This encouraged people to become more literate. Also as business and trade developed, a basic education became more important, especially in the towns. However, for most people, education was limited according to their place in the social hierarchy and in rural areas, where farming was the main way of life, very little changed.
• Education in the home

  Nobility: children of the nobility learned a variety of subjects such as foreign languages, including latin and Greek,History, Philosophy and religious studies. Elizabeth 1 was highly educated in these subjects. Upper class women also tended to be educated in music, dancing, needlework, horse-riding and archery. Most were tutored at home, as were their brothers, but separately from them at the age of about 7. Wealthy families often sent their children to another noble household to finish their education, and enabling them to make useful social contacts.The eldest son would inherit his father's title.
• Grammar schools

  Historically, the church had provided much of the education given to children. In the 1560s and 1570s more than seventy Grammar schools were created. These were private schools set up for boys considered bright, mainly from well-off families in towns - the sons of 'middling sorts': the gentry, professionals or wealthy business owners. Girls could not attend Grammar schools, they stayed home and were often educated by their mothers. Fees for these schools varied. Some lower class boys, who showed promise, could attend and their fees were funded for them. The school year was long with holidays only at Christmas and Easter. The day usually started at 6am and finished at 5pm. There was great emphasis on learning languages, philosophy, memorising bible texts as well as sports.
• Alternative curriculum


  Some schools ran an 'alternative curriculum' for the sons of merchants and craftsmen. Lessons focused on more practical subjects such as English, writing, arithmetic and geography. This helped prepare the boys for the life they were expected to lead. Skilled craftsmen and Yeomen could receive an education in the form of an apprenticeship, where they would learn the skills necessary to run the family business or farm.
• Discipline and punishments

  Punishments in Elizabethan grammar schools: Kept in at break time, Put on report, Corporal punishment, Exclusion from school. After warnings it was possible to expel a child.
• Petty schools, girls and the poor

  Petty Schools: Often set up in a Teacher's home. Boys whose parents could afford it, often used these. They would learn reading, writing and arithmetic. Punishment was harsh, there were beatings for poor behaviour or lack of progress. Girls: Dame schools provided a basic education for girls. Usually run by a local educated woman. Girls were only expected to have a very basic education, as they would be under the control off their father or a husband one day. To conclude, most Elizabethans had no formal, school-based education. They learned everything they knew from their families.
• Conclusion

  It is estimated that about a quarter of men, and 10% of women, were literate by the end of the Elizabethan age. Which was a slight improvement compared to the 1530s (20% men and 10% women). The feeling that education was wasted on girls largely persisted (they would get married), and the main obstacle to schooling was the cost.
• University

  there were two universities - Oxford and Cambridge. Only the wealthy could go there. University would start at age 14 - 15, and the curriculum would include geometry, music, astronomy, philosophy, logic and rhetoric (public speaking and persuasion) as well as medicine and Law.
• Leisure


  • Sport
  • Spectator sports
  • Other popular pastimes
• Sport

  Your class and gender would determine which sports and leisure activities people could enjoy. There were more options for men than for women. Nobility snd Gentry: Hunting on horseback with hounds (men and women), fishing (both), Fencing (men), Tennis (men). Some sports were played by men of all classes but they would not play together, E.g. Wrestling and swimming. Football was a lower class sport, very violent (people were sometimes killed). The rules were different to today - you could pick up ball and run with it, trip up and push other players, size of pitch varied, length of game could last hours, any number of players could join in. Objective, though was to get the ball into the other side's goal.
• Spectator sports

  Elizabethans liked to gamble on the outcome of many sports. Baiting: A bear would be chained to a post and dogs set on it. Many dogs were often killed. Care was taken not to kill too many bears as they were expensive. Special arenas were built to house a 'sport' enjoyed by all classes, even the Queen. Cock fighting: Cockerels were fitted with metal spurs and set against each other, people would bet on the winner. Again all classes enjoyed this. Some Puritans disapproved of these spectator events (not because of cruelty) because they often happened on a Sunday.
• Other popular pastimes

  Literature: Translations of Latin and Greek classics were popular. As were medieval works such as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Theatre: At the start of Elizabeth's reign Bible and Saints stories were common in the theatre. Protestants disliked felt this somehow reinforced catholicism so such plays were ended. Secular plays became popular instead. Comedies were enjoyed by all classes and attracted large audiences. New theatres were built and seats were expensive, however crowds flocked to see these plays. Music and dancing: All classes loved music, and many played instruments. The wealthy would employ musicians to play in their homes, the poor would hear music at fairs. There were also developments in new musical instruments, making more music available. Dancing was popular but again it was socially segregated.