John pounds bust

Origins Of The Ragged Schools: John Pounds, The Kind Old Cobbler by D. H. Webster

The precise role of John Pounds in the history of the Ragged School Movement is obscure. His biographer presents him as the founder of the ragged schools (1. H. Hawkes, The Recollections of John Pounds. 1884, p.295). It was certainly an opinion held by some within a few years of his death (2. E.G. York Herald, 4 May, 1850. ’The origin of this movement commenced with one very humble in life (John Pounds).’ Report of a speech made by the Rev. Canon Trevor). Read more…

The Ragged School Movement and the Education of the Poor in the Nineteenth Century

This is the work of D.H. Webster who wrote a thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Leicester, 1973. It remains an important historical document and analysis of the Ragged School and free education movement in Britain. It will be reproduced and published verbatim in installments for educational purposes to facilitate review and discussion about education. This post is the first part of the thesis where the references have been reproduced inline within the text.

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1850: The Ragged School Union Magazine Address

“Man is surely, of all things in the creation, most interesting to man. It is his intellect and his moral sense—his conscious capacity of an excellence he has never reached— his inward vision of the true, the beautiful, and the good—that invest him with a dignity which belongs to him alone of all earthly beings, and, more than any mere external superiority, mark him as a creature of a higher order, and adapted to nobler ends than the rest, between which and himself there is a wide and inaccessible distance.” Read more…

10th Dec 2023: How and why did a religious country like Scotland in 17th and 18th centuries, get involved in slavery and how was it eventually ended? by Kate Phillips

Come along to The Outhouse (12A Broughton Street Lane, Edinburgh) at 4 pm for a talk on ‘How and why did a religious country like Scotland in 17th and 18th centuries, get involved in slavery and how was it eventually ended?’ by Kate Phillips.  Everyone is welcome to the free event; people are warmly invited to bring an item of food to put on the table and help take away everything at the end so there is no waste. Read more…

Critical Perspectives: Digital Technologies, Education and Sustainability

We live in an age of digital technology and year after year new infrastructure to support this gets laid out, economies expand based on these and new software tools are released into the wild made by tech developers trying to make a living. For many, digital technology has permeated every aspect of our lives as users, and if not as users then as people who have their lives shaped by other peoples use of digital technologies.

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