Editing Wales (section)

==Education==
{{Main|Education in Wales|History of education in Wales}}
{{See also|List of universities in Wales|List of further education colleges in Wales|Lists of schools in Wales}}
[[File:Llanbedr Pont Steffan.jpg|thumb|right|St. David's Building, Lampeter campus, [[University of Wales, Trinity Saint David]] ({{lang|cy|Prifysgol Cymru, Y Drindod Dewi Sant}}). Founded in 1822, it is the oldest degree-awarding institution in Wales.<ref>{{Citation |title=Lampeter, University of Wales |date=1 May 2008 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/may/01/universityguide.highereducation63 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=17 October 2014}}</ref>]] A distinct education system has developed in Wales.<ref name="Davies238">Davies (2008) p. 238</ref> Formal education before the 18th century was the preserve of the elite. The first grammar schools were established in Welsh towns such as [[Ruthin]], Brecon and Cowbridge.<ref name="Davies238" /> One of the first successful schooling systems was started by [[Griffith Jones (Llanddowror)|Griffith Jones]], who introduced the circulating schools in the 1730s; these are believed to have taught half the country's population to read.<ref name="Davies239">Davies (2008) p. 239</ref> In the early 19th century, English became the usual language of instruction at schools in Wales. While the country's working class was largely Welsh-speaking at the time, Welsh public opinion wished for children to learn English.{{Sfn|Johnes|2024|pp=280, 293–296}}{{Sfn|Johnes|2024|pp=37–38}} Many schools used corporal punishment to stop children from speaking Welsh in the first half of the 19th century;{{Sfn|Johnes|2024|pp=51–52}} the practice declined in the second half of the century.{{Sfn|Johnes|2024|p=66}}{{Sfn|Johnes|2024|pp=125,134}} The British government never prohibited the use of Welsh at schools but it treated English as the assumed language of instruction.{{Sfn|Johnes|2024|pp=97–98, 181}} More Welsh was gradually used at schools in Welsh-speaking areas in the mid to late 19th century{{Sfn|Johnes|2024|pp=96–97}}{{Sfn|Johnes|2024|pp=160–162}} and teaching of the language began to receive moderate government support from the late 19th century.{{Sfn|Johnes|2024|p=181}}

The [[Aberystwyth University|University College of Wales]] opened in Aberystwyth in 1872. [[Cardiff University|Cardiff]] and [[Bangor University|Bangor]] followed, and the three colleges came together in 1893 to form the [[University of Wales]].<ref name="Davies239" /> The [[Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889|Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889]] created 95 secondary schools. The Welsh Department for the Board of Education followed in 1907, which gave Wales its first significant educational devolution.<ref name="Davies239" /> A resurgence in Welsh-language schools in the latter half of the 20th century at nursery and primary level saw attitudes shift towards teaching in the medium of Welsh.<ref name="Davies240">Davies (2008) p. 240</ref> Welsh is a compulsory subject in all of Wales's state schools for pupils aged 5–16 years old.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Megan |title=Welsh-medium education and Welsh as a subject |url=http://www.assembly.wales/research%20documents/rs16-048/16-048-english-web.pdf |access-date=26 February 2018 |website=National Assembly for Wales}}</ref> While there has never been an exclusively Welsh-language college, Welsh-medium higher education is delivered through the individual universities and has since 2011 been supported by the [[Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol]] (Welsh-language National College) as a delocalised federal institution. In 2021–2022, there were 1,470 maintained schools in Wales.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Schools by local authority, region and type of school |url=https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Education-and-Skills/Schools-and-Teachers/Schools-Census/Pupil-Level-Annual-School-Census/Schools/schools-by-localauthorityregion-type |access-date=6 November 2022 |website=statswales.gov.wales}}</ref> In 2021–22, the country had 471,131 pupils taught by 25,210 full-time equivalent teachers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pupils by Assembly constituency and sector |url=https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Education-and-Skills/Schools-and-Teachers/Schools-Census/Pupil-Level-Annual-School-Census/Pupils/pupils-by-assemblyconstituency-sector |access-date=3 December 2022 |website=statswales.gov.wales}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Full-time equivalent teachers by Assembly constituency and category |url=https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Education-and-Skills/Schools-and-Teachers/teachers-and-support-staff/School-Staff/fteteachers-by-assemblyconstituency-category |access-date=3 December 2022 |website=statswales.gov.wales |archive-date=3 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221203180711/https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Education-and-Skills/Schools-and-Teachers/teachers-and-support-staff/School-Staff/fteteachers-by-assemblyconstituency-category |url-status=dead }}</ref>