PREFACE
In 1846 the Government of the day set up a Commission of Inquiry into the state of Education in Wales. The Reports which followed created a considerable amount of discussion, though their publication was not without some benefit to Welsh education. A century has now elapsed, passions and prejudices have had time to cool, and the present seems an appropriate time to review the work of the Commissioners and to assess its importance in the history of educational development in Wales. This the present pamphlet attempts to do.
We are living in the throes of an educational advance made possible by the Education Acts of 1944 and 1946. There is still much to be done. We in Britain have traditionally followed the gradual way of evolution, modifying the present to suit our future needs, and bearing in mind at all times the rock from which we have been hewn. This pamphlet looks back over the last one hundred years, and should serve to remind us of the great strides that have been made since 1847. Then, three able Commissioners could denounce the influence of the Welsh language on the moral and economic progress of the Welsh people. That position is no longer tenable. On the contrary, I believe that the language, the literature, the history and the traditions of Wales are the priceless heritage of all Welsh children.
George Tomlinson
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION,
- LONDON, W.1.
- December, 1947.
- LONDON, W.1.
The Welsh Department of the Ministry of Education wishes to acknowledge the assistance it has received in the preparation of this pamphlet from Professor R. T. Jenkins; Mr. Bob Owen, Croesor; from those Head Masters who kindly placed their Log Books at its disposal; and from the following, who kindly supplied the illustrations: Lord Shuttleworth (Sir James Key-Shuttleworth), Sir Ifan ab Owen Edward (Sir O. M. Edwards), and the National Library of Wales (Sir Hugh Owen, Dean Cotton, and the facsimile of the title-page of Part I of the "Blue Books ").
