British Schools Museum, Educational museum in Hitchin, England.
The British Schools Museum occupies a Grade II listed complex of former school buildings with separate sections for infants, girls, and boys along Queen Street. The rooms show how schools were organized and how teaching took place during the 19th century.
William Wilshere founded the first school here in 1810, creating Hertfordshire's first educational facility for disadvantaged children with room for 300 students. The buildings later developed into a system with specialized areas for different age groups.
The preserved classrooms and teaching materials demonstrate the evolution of British education methods from monitorial instruction to the pupil teacher approach.
The museum opens from Friday through Sunday and can be explored in a few hours. Visitors should take time to look closely at the classrooms and the objects on display from daily school life.
The building houses the last surviving teaching room based on Joseph Lancaster's monitorial system from 1837. This educational approach made it possible for one person to teach hundreds of students at the same time.
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