Richard Mulcaster

Richard Mulcaster (born c. 1531, Cumberland, England—died April 15, 1611, Stamford Rivers, Essex) was an English schoolmaster, many of whose pedagogical theories were not generally accepted until at least 250 years after his death.

He was educated at Eton, Cambridge, and Oxford. In 1561 he became the first headmaster of the Merchant-Taylors’ School, and, after teaching in his own private schools, he became high master at St. Paul’s (1596–1608).

Mulcaster’s fame rests mainly upon his two books Positions Concerning the Training Up of Children (1581) and The First Part of the Elementarie (1582). He recommended special university training for teachers, comparable to that for doctors or lawyers, careful selection of teachers and adequate salaries, assignment of the best teachers to the lowest grades, and close association between teachers and parents. He emphasized the importance of individual differences in children, the adjustment of the curriculum to these differences, and the use of readiness rather than age in determining progress. Unlike Thomas Elyot and Roger Ascham, Mulcaster was not specifically concerned with the education of gentlemen.