Practical Education

In this influential two-volume work of 1788, Edgeworth discusses various theoretical and practical approaches to early childhood education.

Richard Lovell Edgeworth's influential two-volume work of 1788, written with his daughter Maria, derives its authority and innovative features from Edgeworth's own experiences of raising twenty children. Arguing for the formative character of early childhood experiences in general, Volume 2 focuses on schooling, creativity, and public and private education.The scientist Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744–1817), educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and Oxford, was a Member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, where he exchanged ideas with other scientists, including James Watt, and was known for his significant mechanical inventions. However, Edgeworth's real interest was education: in this 1788 two-volume work, written with his daughter, the poet Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849), he draws on his own experience of raising twenty children (by his four wives), from which the work derives its authority and innovative character. The work was very influential, and led to his Essays on Professional Education (1809; also reissued in this series). The two volumes discuss the theories of philosophers and educationalists, while in general arguing for the importance and formative character of early childhood experiences. Volume 2 discusses schooling, the idea of creativity and imagination, and the relationship between public and private education.