Schools in 17th Century Scotland

Going to school was not always an unavoidable part of life as it is today. Children in the 16th & 17th Century were considered very privileged if they had the chance to go to school at all.

For one thing, it cost money to send your children to school, so only the wealthy families could afford to have their children educated. Schools were not run by the government, as they are today, but by the local parish (the church) who had control over most things in those days including taxes, land registry, and the courts.

The children of poor families who scraped a living working in factories or on the land were not often allowed to attend school, as they were needed to go out to work or help with domestic chores.

If the family could afford it, it was more likely to be boys that would be sent to school. It was not thought to be worthwhile educating girls who were better off at home learning how to run the home and care for the family.

Schools were usually not larger than one room, often a disused byre or a tumbledown But 'n' Ben - it was unthinkable at that time to have a purpose built school building. Children of all ages would gather to do their lessons with a single teacher. They studied hard, learning reading, writing and arithmetic.

The day started early in the morning, and children would walk miles from their home villages to attend. There were no school buses – if you were very lucky you might be driven to school in a pony and trap! It was not unusual for the school day to last from 7am until 6 o' clock at night. These long hours were balanced by shorter days in the dark winter months.

During harvest time, children would be needed to help with the gathering of crops, so the school would close for a time. This was the original reason behind the very long summer holiday period we enjoy today!

The rest of the time school would take place six days a week. You were not allowed to miss school on Sunday, as that was the day you did bible study and attended church.

In 1693, it was decided that a total of £30 was to be allocated each year for the running of a school in Fort William. This sum was to provide books and equipment for all pupils, maintain the school building and pay the teacher. These days £30 would barely cover the cost of pencils handed out by your teacher in a year! But at that time, it was a move towards a better society where education was available to everyone.

Three years later, in 1696 a law was passed that there should be a school in every parish in Scotland, and that the salary of the schoolmaster was to be raised through a tax on tenants.

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