Selling Education in England, 1650–1715

In the period 1650–1715, a growing consensus emerged that educational culture in England did not meet the needs of the population, and that change was required—change in what was taught, how, and to whom. This article argues for a conception of an English ‘educational economy’ in which fragmenting institutions and a patchy licensing regime made space for substantial private educational provision. This educational economy gave rise to debates about the appropriate education for learners of different backgrounds and social status, and prompted teachers to new defences of their own value, authority and competence. It was shaped in public, making education the business not only of schoolrooms or private homes, but also of coffeehouses, taverns and the press. This article argues that printed advertisements are the best archive for this educational economy, providing crucial information about its shape—from the subjects on offer to the students it served. Advertisements help to illuminate the venues of early modern education, and show how educational activity was woven through the public and semi-public spaces of the period’s cities and towns. They offer new ways of thinking about educational labour: who was doing it, what it consisted of, how it fitted into the urban knowledge economy, and how authority and prestige were debated and discussed in this transformative phase in England’s educational history.