Charity schools were developed to provide basic education for the poor. Members of the wealthier classes believed that the education of the poor would upset the social order, causing people to revolt. Although this belife was common, people also recognized the importance of spreading Christian knowledge by allowing people the opportunity to read the bible for themselves.
Robert Raikes iniated the Sunday School movement, which was the first attempt to legislate education for children (mostly boys) of the lower-class. Some of the aims of Sunday School were to teach the Christian doctrine and to keep children of the lower class away from crime. Sunday School was taught primarliy with the bible by lay people and sometimes priests and ministers (Richardson)
The early development of grammar schools took place in late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By the eighteenth century, grammar school provided working and middle-class boys with the opportunity to receive a classical education which would help them obtain professional jobs. The curriculum consisted of teaching the bible, literacy skills, mathematics and natural sciences.
