Charlotte Mason

Educator, author

• Born: January 1, 1842
• Birthplace: Bangor, Wales
• Died: January 16, 1923
• Place of death: Ambleside, England

Also known as: Charlotte Maria Shaw Mason

Education: Home and Colonial School Society

Significance: Charlotte Mason was an educator best known for establishing a teacher's college for women. She promoted a liberal teaching method, which was later supported by homeschoolers. Mason also enjoyed a writing career and published various travel, educational, and religious books.

Background

Charlotte Maria Shaw Mason was born on January 1, 1842, in Bangor, Wales. Her father, J. H. Mason, was a merchant. Mason was an only child, and her parents had no siblings. She spent much time reading and was educated by her parents at home. When Mason was sixteen, her mother died. Her father was devastated by the loss. He died the next year. Mason was left an orphan and went to live with friends.

When she turned eighteen years old in 1860, Mason moved to London, England, and enrolled at the Home and Colonial School Society teacher training school. The Home and Colonial School Society was established in 1836, and it was the first school in London to focus on Swiss educational reformer Johann Pestalozzi's teaching methods. After one year at the school, Mason was appointed headmistress of infants at the Davison School. It was one of the first early education schools in the country at the time. She spent three years teaching at the school.

After receiving her teaching certificate when she was twenty-two years old, Mason helped establish a high school for girls at the Davison School. She taught at the school for the next seven years. At this time, children were educated according to their socioeconomic status. Poor students learned a trade, while rich students learned literature and the arts. Mason did not agree with this method and believed that all children should be taught a broad curriculum.

An illness required Mason to take some time off from teaching, so she decided to travel for a time while she recuperated. When she was thirty-two, Mason received a teaching job at Bishop Otter College in Chichester, West Sussex. She was named mistress of method, and she taught women training to be teachers about educational methods, hygiene, and physiology. Mason spent four years in this capacity before she had a mental breakdown that made her give up teaching.

Life's Work

Mason then embarked on a period of travel. She kept a notebook of her musings as she visited the countryside of England. She collected these thoughts into a series of books. She published her first book of the series, The Forty Shires: Their History, Scenery, Arts and Legends, in 1881. The book was popular and led to Mason authoring four additional books through 1892. The profits from the books allowed her to continue traveling before she eventually settled in Bradford.

Mason traveled back to London regularly and had memberships in several clubs and societies, such as the Philosophical Society and the Browning Society. She also belonged to a poetry club, where the members recited plays by William Shakespeare and other great playwrights. In 1885, Mason was asked to give a donation to St. Mark's Anglican Church in Manningham, Bradford. She instead insisted on donating her time to give lectures on education. Mason spoke about her experiences teaching and her ideas for expanding education. She hoped that her lectures would help parents better understand basic principles of teaching. Mason published these lectures as Home Education in 1886.

While giving these talks, Mason met a woman named Francis Steinthal, who helped her establish an educational society for parents called the Parents' Educational Union (PEU). Mason then partnered with other educational leaders to open additional PEU branches, and the organization later became known as the Parents' National Educational Union. Its focus eventually became homeschooling. Mason began writing a monthly PEU journal called the Parents' Review in 1890.

Mason then prepared to open her own teacher's training college to continue her philosophy of teaching. She moved to Springfield, Ambleside, and established the House of Education in 1892. The school focused on training governesses and others who worked with young children. Her first class had twenty-one students. The college later added a Parents' Review School (later called Parents' Union School), where young children of Parents' Review subscribers could attend at no charge.

In 1884, Mason moved the school to another part of Ambleside. She then began writing a series of books dedicated to education. Her first, Home Education: The Education and Training of Children under Nine, was published in 1886. She followed with four more volumes: Parents and Children: A Practical Study of Educational Principles (1896), School Education: The Training and Education of Children over Nine (1904), Ourselves, Our Souls and Bodies (1904), and Some Studies in the Formation of Character (1905). These writings became popular with parents who homeschooled their children.

In addition to running the school, Mason continued her partnership with the PEU and published additional entries of the Parents' Review. She later published a series of religious works. Mason died at the age of eighty-one on January 16, 1923, in Ambleside. In 1938, the House of Education was renamed the Charlotte Mason College. The private school continued to attract students who wanted to become teachers for many years until it became a public institution in 1961. Lancaster University ran the school in the early 1990s until St. Martin's College took over its management in the late 1990s. St. Martin's College eventually became the University of Cumbria.

Impact

Mason envisioned a liberal educational system that taught a broad range of courses to all students, regardless of their social status. She advocated that parents should get involved in their children's education by creating an environment at home conducive to learning and by instilling discipline and good habits in their children. Mason also believed that teachers should focus on methods that allow students to learn through experiences. Her methods became a favorite with homeschool advocates.

Principal Works: Nonfiction

• The Forty Shires: Their History, Scenery, Arts and Legends, 1881
• Volume 1: Home Education: The Education and Training of Children under Nine, 1886
• Volume 2: Parents and Children: A Practical Study of Educational Principles, 1896
• Volume 3: School Education: The Training and Education of Children over Nine, 1904
• Volume 4: Ourselves, Our Souls and Bodies, 1904
• Volume 5: Some Studies in the Formation of Character, 1905
• An Essay towards a Philosophy of Education, 1923

Bibliography

"Charlotte Mason." Ambleside Schools International, www.amblesideschools.com/main/charlotte-mason. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

"Charlotte Mason College." University of Cumbria, www.cumbria.ac.uk/alumni/memory-lane/charlotte-mason-college. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

Natal, Aimee Ruth. "Charlotte Mason: Education, Atmosphere, Habit and Living Ideas." Infed, infed.org/mobi/charlotte-mason-education-atmosphere-habit-and-living-ideas. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

Nutbrown, Cathy, and Peter Clough. Early Childhood Education: History, Philosophy and Experience, 2nd. ed., SAGE, 2008, pp. 35–36.

"What Is the Charlotte Mason Method?" Simply Charlotte Mason, simplycharlottemason.com/what-is-the-charlotte-mason-method. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

White, Anne. "An Introduction to Charlotte Mason." AmblesideOnline, www.amblesideonline.org/WhatIsCM.shtml. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

"Who Was Charlotte Mason?" Simply Charlotte Mason, simplycharlottemason.com/what-is-the-charlotte-mason-method/who-was-charlotte-mason. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.