Elizabethan Education: The Home, Petty Schools and Grammar Schools - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

10 original exam-style questions - 4 pages of questions with a full mark scheme - free printable PDF.

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This topic is chapter 11 of GCSE History: Early Elizabethan England, 1558-88 Practice Book.

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3.11 Elizabethan Education: The Home, Petty Schools and Grammar Schools

EDEXCEL 1HI0 · about 60 minutes

Total Marks

Name: _______________________________ Date: ____ / ____ / ______

Answer ALL questions. Write in full sentences for Questions 12, 13 and 14. You are advised to spend about 65 minutes on this pack.

Give one practical subject or skill girls were commonly taught at home in Elizabethan England.

(Total for Question 1 is 1 mark)

Describe two features of education in the home for gentry families in Elizabethan England.

(Total for Question 2 is 4 marks)

Explain why access to schooling in Elizabethan England differed sharply by social class and by gender.

You may use the following in your answer:
- the role of family wealth and social expectations
- the different aims of petty schools and grammar schools

You must also use information of your own.

(Total for Question 3 is 12 marks)

'Grammar schools were more important than the Church in shaping education in Elizabethan England.' How far do you agree? Explain your answer.

You may use the following in your answer:
- the curriculum and purpose of grammar schools
- the Church's provision and influence in local schooling

You must also use information of your own.

(Total for Question 4 is 16 marks)

Name one language that was a central part of the humanist curriculum in grammar schools during the Elizabethan period.

(Total for Question 5 is 1 mark)

Name one type of family whose sons were most likely to be sent to grammar school in Elizabethan England.

(Total for Question 6 is 1 mark)

Give the title usually applied to a teacher at a grammar school in the Elizabethan era.

(Total for Question 7 is 1 mark)

Name one reason why some gentry families chose to educate their sons at home rather than send them to a school.

(Total for Question 8 is 1 mark)

State two reasons why girls had much less access to formal schooling than boys in Elizabethan England.

(Total for Question 9 is 2 marks)

Explain why grammar schools were important for some boys in Elizabethan England.

You may use the following in your answer:
- Latin and the humanist curriculum
- preparation for work in the Church, law or government

You must also use information of your own.

(Total for Question 10 is 12 marks)

Mark scheme · 3.11 Elizabethan Education: The Home, Petty Schools and Grammar Schools

Question 1

B1 sewing (needlework) or domestic skills
Answer: Sewing

Question 2

B1 feature 1 identified, e.g. sons received tuition from a private tutor or governess
B1 supporting detail for feature 1, e.g. tutors taught reading, classical languages and manners expected of the gentry
B1 feature 2 identified, e.g. education included training in conduct and household management suitable for a gentleman or gentlewoman
B1 supporting detail for feature 2, e.g. emphasis on leadership, social etiquette and preparation for roles such as local office or running an estate
Answer: Examples: sons were taught by private tutors in reading, classical languages and manners; household education included training in conduct and management suitable for future local leaders.

Question 3

Level 1 (1-3): Identifies one or two simple reasons why access varied, with little supporting detail.
Level 2 (4-6): Explains one or two reasons with some accurate detail and begins to show links between class, gender and schooling.
Level 3 (7-9): Explains several reasons clearly, supported by accurate detail, and shows how social class and gender combined to shape access to education.
Level 4 (10-12): Provides a well-developed explanation, with precise and accurate detail, analysing how family wealth, social expectations and the different aims of schools produced the sharply unequal access by class and gender.
Indicative content:
- Family wealth and costs: schooling involved fees, books and sometimes boarding, so the poorest families could not afford grammar schools and often relied on informal home teaching or no schooling at all; petty schools were cheaper and served ordinary boys.
- Social expectations: gentry families expected sons to be prepared for public roles and local office through classical learning, while girls were expected to manage a household, so families invested in boys education rather than girls.
- Aims of schools: grammar schools offered classical humanist education aimed at producing clerics, administrators and gentlemen literate in Latin and rhetoric, so they were aimed at boys from wealthier families; petty schools taught basic literacy and numeracy for local trades and everyday needs.
- Role of the Church and parish: the Church supported some petty and grammar schools, but provision varied by parish wealth, so local differences in church support reinforced class inequalities in access.
- Gendered curriculum and opportunities: even where girls learned to read at home for religious purposes, they rarely received the classical teaching that opened pathways to positions of authority, so educational access reproduced wider gender and social hierarchies.
- Interconnections: decisions about who to educate were pragmatic and strategic, reflecting a family's desire to secure social status, marriage prospects and economic survival, which together explain the pattern of sharply unequal access.

Question 4

Level 1 (1-4): Shows limited relevant knowledge and offers a simple, undeveloped view on the statement.
Level 2 (5-8): Shows some relevant knowledge and begins to weigh the relative importance of grammar schools and the Church, but with limited analysis or support.
Level 3 (9-12): Shows good relevant knowledge, analyses the roles of grammar schools and the Church, and reaches a supported judgement on the statement with some analytical links.
Level 4 (13-16): Shows precise, well-selected knowledge and presents a balanced, analytical evaluation of the relative importance of grammar schools and the Church, reaching a sustained and well-supported judgement that integrates causes, consequences and the wider social context.
Indicative content:
- Arguments that grammar schools were more important: grammar schools provided the humanist curriculum of Latin, Greek and rhetoric that directly trained boys for roles in administration, the law and the church itself, shaping the literate elite and the future ruling class.
- Grammar schools as centres of humanist learning: they promoted new ideas and a classical education model that influenced broader educational standards and expectations among the gentry.
- Arguments that the Church was more important: the Church and parish clergy provided many of the earliest schools, offered basic religious instruction and reading for the Bible, and in poorer areas the Church was often the only provider of schooling.
- Local influence and reach: while grammar schools were powerful in shaping elite education, their numbers and intake were limited; the Church's parish structures reached wider communities and influenced everyday religious and moral education, especially for girls and the poor.
- Balanced points: the relative importance varied by locality and social group, with grammar schools dominant among the gentry and for those seeking classical learning, while the Church's role was crucial in sustaining basic literacy and schooling across many parishes.
- Judgement: a strong answer will argue that grammar schools and the Church had different but complementary roles, and conclude to what extent one outweighed the other depending on the criterion used - elite formation, curriculum innovation or breadth of provision.

Question 5

B1 Latin
Answer: Latin

Question 6

B1 gentry families or wealthy families
Answer: Gentry families

Question 7

B1 schoolmaster
Answer: Schoolmaster

Question 8

B1 they employed a private tutor so the boy received personalised instruction and learned conduct suitable for a gentleman
Answer: They employed a private tutor so the son received personalised instruction.

Question 9

B1 girls were expected to learn domestic skills at home rather than attend formal schools
B1 society valued literacy and classical learning mainly for boys who might enter public life or the professions
Answer: Girls were expected to learn domestic skills at home, and classical schooling was aimed at boys who might enter public or learned professions.

Question 10

Level 1 (1-3): Identifies one or two simple reasons with little supporting detail or explanation.
Level 2 (4-6): Offers some explanation of reasons, supported by relevant detail, but links may be limited or uneven.
Level 3 (7-9): Explains several reasons clearly, supported by accurate detail, and begins to show how the reasons worked together.
Level 4 (10-12): Provides a well-developed explanation, supported by precise and accurate detail, analysing how the reasons combined to produce the outcome named in the question.
Indicative content:
- Grammar schools were important because they taught Latin, grammar, rhetoric and other elements of a humanist curriculum, giving boys the learning expected of educated gentlemen and clergy.
- They prepared some boys for university and for careers in the Church, law, administration or service to wealthy households, so education could support social status and employment prospects.
- They were important to gentry and prosperous town families because sending sons to grammar school signalled ambition and respectability, and helped prepare boys for public roles in local communities.
- Grammar schools also spread Protestant and humanist values through reading, discipline and classical learning, linking education to wider religious and cultural change in Elizabethan England.
- However, their importance was limited by access: girls and many poorer boys were usually excluded, and petty schools or home education remained more relevant for basic literacy among wider groups.
- A strong explanation links curriculum, opportunity and social status, showing why grammar schools mattered especially for boys whose families could afford or obtain access to this form of schooling.

Elizabethan Education: The Home, Petty Schools and Grammar Schools - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

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