ABSTRACT
Covering a period from his days at Oxford as a tutor, to a time which saw the emergence of the Sunday school movement, this chapter demonstrates that John Wesley's educational thinking and practice for pauper children was far from straightforward. Much of Wesley's thinking concerning education of children of the poor was in line with sentiments of the day. Even among education reformers, some children were considered more 'deserving' of an education than others. In 1748 he wrote to his friend, Evangelical clergyman Vincent Perronet, stating that an abundance of children, whose parents were unable to afford to send them to school, remained 'like a wild ass's colt'. Evidence suggests that in addition to his preaching house schools, Wesley encouraged the formation of Methodist schools in private residences and chapels, although this work went largely unrecorded. The school for the colliers' children was discontinued soon afterwards.
