A UNIVERSITY is helping to ensure the legacy of an iconic British educator who resided in the Lake District lives on.

Charlotte Mason, born in 1842, believed in a 'liberal education for all' and established a Victorian 'house of education' at Ambleside in 1892.

And now the University of Cumbria, to which the house now belongs, has brought in three virtual visiting research fellows on five-year appointments to help highlight Mason's impact.

Dr Lois Mansfield, director of the university's Ambleside campus, said Mason's guiding principles were less well known in this country than elsewhere.

Doctors Carroll Smith, Jennifer Spencer and Deani Van Pelt, from America and Canada, are all part of the Charlotte Mason Institute, which supports educators worldwide 'in an authentic practise of Charlotte Mason’s paradigm of education.'

Dr Spencer said she wanted to 'pull Charlotte Mason back from the fringes'.

“I’m looking forward to building long-term relationships with the university and local school heads," she said.

"It would be wonderful to create action research projects, bringing some of Mason’s ideas back to where they were birthed."

Dr Smith said Mason's 'deep understanding of children as persons and not vessels to be filled' had had a 'huge impact' on his educational career.