Abstract

This article represents an initial attempt to describe and assess the influence of O. M. Edwards on the use and teaching of Welsh in schools during his time as the first Chief Inspector of Education in Wales between 1907 and 1920. In a period when many educators and parents saw schools as the driver of social mobility and the English language as the motor of progress, O. M. Edwards had a vision for a curriculum that would celebrate the history, geography, literature and culture of Wales and would give status to the Welsh language. He did 'not regard bilingualism in our country as a disadvantage in any way [but rather] as an advantage'. In his relationship with the Central Welsh Board and even within his own Welsh Department in the Board of Education in Whitehall, O. M. Edwards faced opposition. However, he used his position as chief inspector as a platform to make his views known and he did influence the teaching of Welsh and Welsh history and culture in schools during his time in post. His influence was greater in elementary than in intermediate schools whose curriculum was heavily directed by the Board of Education Codes and by an English-medium university sector whose leaders sat on the Central Welsh Board and many of whose lecturers set and marked the intermediate school examinations. His long-term influence on education in Wales is reflected in the way that policy-makers and educationalists have come to accept that the study of the Welsh language, history and culture is an important part of the school curriculum.

How to Cite:

Keane, A., (2018) “O. M. Edwards: Ei Ddylanwad ar y Gymraeg mewn Ysgolion”, Wales Journal of Education 20(1), 26-45. doi: https://doi.org/10.16922/wje.20.1.3