Large crowds set for Longford ahead of Maria Edgeworth event
The legacy of literary great Maria Edgeworth on the town of Edgeworthstown shows no sign of abating as it gets set to host a major international conference next month.
The suitably dubbed ‘The Education of a Nation & The Role of the Edgeworths’ event will take place on May 5 on the grounds of St Mary’s Community Campus.
A whole host of leading and internationally acclaimed experts are due to fly in for the day long event in what looks set to attract scores of visitors from both at home and abroad.
In a further boost, organisers have also managed to pull off somewhat of a coup by securing the attendance of Education Minister Norma Foley.
Matt Farrell told of how he and fellow chief organiser Eamon Brennan spent much of the last 12 months carefully bringing the event to fruition.
“It (preparations) started last year,” he said. “The reason we decided to go with it was because it was the 225th publication of Maria Edgeworth’s Practical Education,” he said.
Matt said the methodology adopted by the famed early 19th century writer was a strategy which, while invariably different from today’s pressurised educational arena, was a technique that held much weight.
He said many of those who are due to address the event closely adhered to those principals in their everyday teaching practices.
“Her (Maria Edgeworth) ways were that children should be introduced to practical projects and experimentation as opposed to learning off reams of stuff.
“A lot of these experts who are coming from all over Europe actually use Edgeworth’s methods in their teaching methods.”
For Matt, the occasion offers much more than a chance to throw the spotlight on one of this country’s greatest literary figures.
“What this is also about is to bring recognition to the town of Edgeworthstown and put it in a positive light for a change,” he said.
“We get enough negative publicity as it is and what this event will do is recognise the significant role Edgeworthstown played in the establishment of our education system.
“Would Maria Edgeworth in 1798 ever have imagined that 225 years after its publication a female Minister for Education Norma Foley T.D. would visit Edgeworthstown to celebrate the event?”
*Registration for ‘The Education of a Nation & The Role of the Edgeworths’ is free and can be done by logging onto www.mariaedgeworthcentre.com before April 21. For more details contact (043) 6671801 or (087) 2241351.