The Parents' National Educational Union (abbreviated PNEU), founded in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

in 1887 as the Parent's Educational Union, was an organisation providing resources and support for teachers and

homeschooler Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...

s in the United Kingdom in accordance with the educational ideas of

Charlotte Mason Charlotte Maria Shaw Mason (1 January 1842 – 16 January 1923) was a British educator and reformer in England at the turn of the twentieth century. She proposed to base the education of children upon a wide and liberal curriculum. She worked ...

. Mason was co-founder of PNEU together with Emeline Petrie Steinthal. The word "National" was adopted as part of the name in 1890, and in the same year, the organisation began publishing ''The Parents' Review'', "a monthly magazine of home-training and culture", under the editorial leadership of Charlotte Mason.

History

After its founding,

Henrietta Franklin Henrietta "Netta" Franklin, Order of the British Empire, CBE born Henrietta Montagu (9 April 1866 – 7 January 1964) was a British educationist and suffragist. She championed the Parents' National Educational Union and the ideas of Charlotte Ma ...

played a key role in the organisation's development. She had met Mason in 1890 and by 1892 she had opened the first school in London based on these principles. In 1894 Franklin became the secretary of the PNEU and went on speaking tours to major cities in America, Europe and South Africa. She devoted her own money to the cause and wrote on its behalf, and her efforts ensured that PNEU gained national and international attention. In 1978, the ''World-Wide Education Service'' (WES) was created as a separate division of the PNEU, encompassing an overseas educational service for company schools and home-schooling. The last PNEU branch in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

closed in 1984, with the organisation itself closing five years later. The responsibility for the overseas service was given to

Bell Educational Trust The Bell Educational Trust is an educational institution, that grew from the original EFL school, Bell International College, Cambridge, founded by Frank Bell in 1955. The Bell Educational Trust subsequently expanded outside Cambridge, with a ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. Mason's

Ambleside Ambleside is a town in the civil parish of Lakes and the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Westmorland and located in the Lake District National Park, the town sits at the ...

-based House of Education (renamed Charlotte Mason College in 1938), founded in 1892 to train

governesses A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or m ...

, eventually merged with

St Martin's College St Martin's College was a British higher education college with campuses in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Ambleside and Carlisle, as well as sites in Whitehaven, Barrow-in-Furness, Barrow and London. It provided undergraduate and postgrad ...

and other institutions to form the

University of Cumbria The University of Cumbria is a public university in Cumbria, with its headquarters in Carlisle and other major campuses in Lancaster, Ambleside, and London. It has roots extending back to the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, establi ...

. The teacher training programme at the site was ended in 2010.

References

External links

''The Parents' Review'' article archive
Homeschooling 1887 establishments in the United Kingdom History of education in the United Kingdom 1989 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Distance education institutions based in the United Kingdom {{UK-edu-stub