Charlotte Mason, born in 1842 near Bangor, Gwynedd, was educated at home by her parents, and took up a career as a teacher: one of the few professional occupations open to women at that time.
She taught children in Worthing, and then taught at Bishop Otter College, Chichester, teaching teachers. And during this time she developed an approach to education which had a broader focus than simply knowledge, but treated the child as a whole person seeking to develop in them a love of learning, and a moral framework (in her case, Christianity).
Reading between the lines, Mason was clearly unimpressed with the approach to education then prevalent in England: she founded the Parents’ National Educational Union (PNEU), which existed to promote home-schooling on Mason’s principles, and left her teaching job at Bishop Otter College to found her own establishment in Ambleside: the House of Education. No doubt helped by the success of her five popular geography textbooks.
Initially, it seems, the House of Education was a school for children, educating them in line with Mason’s approach. And the approach was popular: the PNEU established a number of schools like this; they were referred to a Parents’ Union Schools. Eventually the House of Education became a teacher training college, running, presumably, alongside the school.
Mason died in 1923, and the House of Education was renamed Charlotte Mason College in her honour. This clipping from the Leeds Mercury of 18 April 1936, gives a flavour of its approach:
Learning for pleasure, and assessment to diagnose rather than shame, seem like very modern ideas. But Charlotte Mason dreamt them up a good while ago!
The college eventually came under the control of the local education authority. In the 1990s it became a college of Lancaster University. In 1996 – apparently following a poor Ofsted report – it was merged with St Martin’s College, another constituent of Lancaster University. And, in 2007, St Martin’s College became part of the new University of Cumbria.
The Charlotte Mason College site was subject to some cost uncertainty, but is still part of the university today. It houses the university’s portfolio of outdoor education: ecology, conservation, geography, forestry (this is a pleasing link back to Charlotte Mason’s subject expertise in geography). And, I have to confess, I am somewhat tempted to try to rearrange life to spend some time as a student in Ambleside: it is a very fine part of the world.
Mason’s legacy has seen a recent revival, as a source of inspiration for home-schoolers in America. The Charlotte Mason Institute, in Greensboro, North Carolina, acts as a hub; it seems popular with parents who are keen to include a more religious element to their children’s education.
The card itself was sent on 17 March 1954, from the PNEU school in Rickmansworth.
Dear Helen, Thank you very much for your letter. We’d love to see you on our breaking up day, Thurs 26th, at 10am. We hope to do the Shakespeare then, instead of the concert.
Once more, there’s a jigsaw of the card. It’s a tough one, but it’s do-able. Enjoy!
