In order to understand the odd picture presented by the siting of the Training Colleges in Wales in the last century, consideration has to be given to the forces which were at work in the Principality at that time; the strength of Voluntaryism in the South, the alacrity with which the Methodists accepted State aid, the influence of a bishop, and the dedication of a small band of enthusiasts in a remote corner of the country. These institutions were an English import, governed by the same regulations as were the colleges in England. Although the
circumstances affecting the Welsh colleges were different - Wales was largely a rural community, its population was predominantly Nonconformist, and it had its own language - yet no concession was given, nor indeed sought, on this account.
Consequently, the colleges, in part, failed to fulfil the task for which they were established, that of providing teachers for the schools of Wales.
Towards the end of the period, the University Day Departments came to challenge the monopoly which the residential colleges had held in teacher training. These new institutions, it was envisaged, would have a liberalising effect on the
education of teachers, but in Wales they succeedeed only in creating suspicion and antagonism on the part of the older establishments.
The gradual decay of the denominational basis of education, the steady growth of a professional consciousness among teachers, the refusal of the Welsh to accept their own language as a medium of instruction in school and college, and the almost unaltered nature of the education given in the colleges were the
outstanding features of the period. Several characteristics of teacher training today have their origins in the last century. This survey attempts to deal with some of the circumstances which gave rise to these characteristics.