---
title: "History of education"
chunk: 10/16
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_education"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:59:32.171634+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Modern systems of education in Europe derive their origins from the schools of the High Middle Ages. Most schools during this era were founded upon religious principles with the primary purpose of training the clergy. Many of the earliest universities, such as the University of Paris founded in 1160, had a Christian basis. In addition to this, several secular universities existed, such as the University of Bologna, founded in 1088 in Italy, the oldest university in continuous operation in the world, and the University of Naples Federico II (founded in 1224) in Italy, the world's oldest state-funded university in continuous operation. Free education for the poor was officially mandated by the Church in 1179 when it decreed that every cathedral must assign a master to teach boys too poor to pay the regular fee; parishes and monasteries also established free schools teaching at least basic literary skills. With few exceptions, priests and brothers taught locally, and their salaries were frequently subsidized by towns. Private, independent schools reappeared in medieval Europe during this time, but they, too, were religious in nature and mission. The curriculum was usually based around the trivium and to a lesser extent quadrivium (the seven Artes Liberales or Liberal arts) and was conducted in Latin, the lingua franca of educated Western Europe throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
In northern Europe, this clerical education was largely superseded by forms of elementary schooling following the Reformation. In Scotland, for instance, the national Church of Scotland set out a program for spiritual reform in January 1561 setting the principle of a school teacher for every parish church and free education for the poor. This was provided for by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland, passed in 1633, which introduced a tax to pay for this program. Although few countries of the period had such extensive systems of education, the period between the 16th and 18th centuries saw education become significantly more widespread.
Herbart developed a system of pedagogy widely used in German-speaking areas. Mass compulsory schooling started in Prussia around 1800 to "produce more soldiers and more obedient citizens". Michael Bayldon suggests that "the schooling system that emerged in post-17th century Britain was largely tied to forming productive citizens who would support and make profitable a Protestant empire".

==== Central and Eastern Europe ====
In Central Europe, the 17th-century scientist and educator John Amos Comenius promulgated a reformed system of universal education that was widely used in Europe.
Its growth resulted in increased government interest in education. In the 1760s, for instance, Ivan Betskoy was appointed by the Russian Tsarina, Catherine II, as an educational advisor. He proposed to educate young Russians of both sexes in state boarding schools, aimed at creating "a new race of men". Betskoy set forth some arguments for general education of children rather than specialized one: "In regenerating our subjects by an education founded on these principles, we will create... new citizens." Some of his ideas were implemented in the Smolny Institute that he established for noble girls in Saint Petersburg.
Poland was established in 1773 by a Commission of National Education (Polish: Komisja Edukacji Narodowej, Lithuanian: Nacionaline Edukacine Komisija). The commission functioned as the first government Ministry of Education in a European country.

==== Universities ====

By the 18th century, universities published academic journals; by the 19th century, the German and French university models were established. The French established the Ecole Polytechnique in 1794 under the mathematician Gaspard Monge during the French Revolution, and it became a military academy under Napoleon I in 1804.  The German university — the Humboldtian model — was established by Wilhelm von Humboldt and was based upon Friedrich Schleiermacher's liberal ideas about the importance of seminars and laboratories.  In the 19th and 20th centuries, universities concentrated on science and served an upper-class clientele.  Science, mathematics, theology, philosophy, and ancient history comprised the typical curriculum.
Increasing academic interest in education led to the analysis of teaching methods and in the 1770s the establishment of the first chair of pedagogy at the University of Halle in Germany. Contributions to the study of education elsewhere in Europe included the work of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi in Switzerland and Joseph Lancaster in Britain.
In 1884, a groundbreaking education conference was held in London at the International Health Exhibition, attracting specialists from all over Europe.

==== 19th century ====
In the late 19th century, most of West, Central, and parts of East Europe began to provide elementary education in reading, writing, and arithmetic, partly because politicians believed that education was needed for orderly political behavior. As more people became literate, they realized that most secondary education was only open to those who could afford it. Having created primary education, the major nations had to give further attention to secondary education by the time of World War I.

==== 20th century ====
In the 20th century, new directions in education included, in Italy, Maria Montessori's Montessori schools; and in Germany, Rudolf Steiner's development of Waldorf education.

==== Denmark ====