Virginia

The role played by the buildings that are now now the Ambleside campus of the University of Cumbria in establishing modern primary education methods is being marked by building links with the Charlotte Mason Institute in the US.

University of CumbriaCopyright: University of Cumbria

The buildings are what was created from the work of Charlotte Mason, who established a child-centred philosophy of education that is now followed by millions of teachers and home-school families in countries including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, India and the United States.

The campus was a teacher training college named after her until the end of the last century.

The Charlotte Mason Institute is based in Roanoke, Virginia, and three prominent associates, the founder, Dr Carroll Smith, Dr Jennifer Spencer, the institute’s curriculum project director, and Dr Deani Van Pelt, president of Ontario-based Edvance Christian Schools Association, are intending to visit Ambleside next year.

Dr Spencer said: “I want to pull Charlotte Mason back from the fringes and showcase her as a woman who was so forward-thinking that she is still in the vanguard of educational thought, even a century after her death."

Quote Message: Her principles had nothing to do with grades or test scores for career preparation, they were all about teaching us to be ‘more of a person’, cultivating wide interests, magnanimous character, humane boundaries and deeper relationships.” from Dr Jennifer Spencer

Her principles had nothing to do with grades or test scores for career preparation, they were all about teaching us to be ‘more of a person’, cultivating wide interests, magnanimous character, humane boundaries and deeper relationships.”