The Locations of Elementary Teaching

Rabbinic texts suggest that teachers could set themselves up anywhere to instruct children. The locations mentioned range from the teacher’s own home to semiprivate courtyards in apartment buildings (insulae), synagogues, and study houses; these were available at times when they were not being used by adults. Residents were sometimes bothered by the noise of the teachers’ and children’s voices. Passersby might overhear the lashes that teachers used to discipline children. Such references in amoraic sources suggest that in late antiquity the teaching of children by elementary teachers had become more widespread. Yet even then, there were regions in which no teachers were available.