Missionary schools are the main form of Christian education in the Middle Ages. Missionary schools have the following characteristics:

The purpose of education is to train clergy and believers, expand the power of the church and consolidate feudal rule.

② Theologization of teaching content. The main courses are theology and "Seven Arts". Theology includes Bible, prayer and church etiquette. "Seven Arts" evolved from the teaching content of ancient Greece and was reformed by Christianity to serve theology.

③ The educational methods are primitive, mechanical and complicated. In class, the teacher dictated and the students recited. In order to maintain the absolute authority of the church and theology, missionary schools force students to blindly and absolutely obey the Bible and teachers. Schools practice individual education, strict discipline, and corporal punishment is prevalent.

④ The types of missionary schools are mainly monasteries, episcopal schools and parochial schools, each with its own characteristics.

(2) the status of missionary schools

Missionary schools played an important role in medieval education in western Europe and had an important impact on the development of European education in the future. In the Middle Ages, missionary schools were the most important form of education, which assumed the function of the development of education in the whole Middle Ages. When the church ruled Europe, secular education developed slowly and its level was low, so it was impossible to implement systematic education and its role could not be fully exerted. As a relatively systematic system, missionary schools play an important and positive role in educating people and spreading religious ideas from primary education to higher education.

(3) the role of missionary schools

While training monks and other people who serve the church, missionary schools publicize religion to the masses and make the working people obey the church and feudal rule. Therefore, an important theme of western education development is the separation of church and state, that is, secularization and nationalization of education. However, secular schools generally died out in the early Middle Ages. In the case of cultural decline, church education can be maintained. It played an objective role in the spread of ancient culture and the development of feudal culture. Its relatively complete religious education system undertakes the functions from primary education to higher education, and implements the universal enlightenment function for the people. To a certain extent, it also awakened the development of secular education, and prompted the medieval education to present a transitional stage. Christian education