| Joseph Lancaster |
Article Index for Joseph |
Website Links For Joseph |
Information AboutJoseph Lancaster |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT JOSEPH LANCASTER | |
| english quakers | |
| lancaster, joseph | |
| english educators | |
| english educationists | |
| new york road accident deaths | |
| 1778 births | |
| 1838 deaths | |
|
Lancaster was born the son of a Shopkeeper in Southwark , south London . In 1798 , he founded a free Elementary School in Borough Road , Southwark, using a variant of the Monitorial System . His ideas though were not original, as Dr. Andrew Bell had been using a very similar system in Madras referred to as the " Madras System Of Education ". The method of instruction and delivery is recursive, as one student learns the material he or she is rewarded for successfully passing on that information to the next pupil. This method is now commonly known as Peer Tutoring but the economics of Lancaster's or Bell's methodology is not widely discussed. Lancaster wrote ''[http://www.constitution.org/lanc/improv-1803.htm Improvements in Education]'' in 1803 and later travelled to the United States to lecture and promote his ideas. The height of popularity of his system was in the first decade of the 19th Century and in 1808 saw the creation of ''The Society for Promoting the Lancasterian System for the Education of the Poor''. However, despite initial successes, the Lancasterian schools were criticised for the poor standards achieved by pupils in schools and the sometimes harsh disciplinary environment. Moreover, he fell out with ''The Society'' over poor money management. After Lancaster's departure the society was renamed ''The British and Foreign School Society'' although it soon abandoned Lancasterian methods (Times and educational methods were changing) and, with increasing government involvement in education, concentrated on the training of teachers. His ideas are being revisited by schools now as an effective model for reducing costs. At the time of his death, there were claimed to be between 12 to 15 hundred schools established with his principles. Bell's schools and methodology were appropriated by the Catholic Church . A number of schools using his system were established in Lower Canada before he settled there in 1828 . He opened a school in Montreal , but his attempts to obtain funding floundered and he moved back to the United States. Reflecting his travels and work in South America there is at least one school in Venezuela that retains Lancaster's name. He also started a school in Baltimore , but it was financially unsuccessful. There is only one Lancasterian Schoolroom, built to the exacting specifications of Lancaster himself, remaining in the world. It is at the British Schools Museum , Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England. Lancaster died in New York from injuries sustained after being run over by a horse carriage. BIBLIOGRAPHY
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|