Place and Pedagogy: Sunday School in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract

This dissertation explored the development of Sunday School in England as it transitioned from a program that was society-based to a church-based educational ministry. Primary emphasis is given to Sunday School’s placement under church leadership and the change in purpose that impacted Sunday School’s functionality. The prominent contributing factors in this transition were the growth and advancement of mass education, and the shift from paid to gratuitous teachers within the Sunday School. Sunday Schools place in the church appears to be solidified by the end of the 19th century. The pedagogy most noticeably employed was the innovative use of catechetical instruction. The catechisms utilized in the Reformation are applied as curriculum and a method of pedagogy in the Sunday School as it becomes part of the educational ministry of the church.