Educationalists, historians and students are gathering in Co Longford for a conference to examine the role of Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth and her father in the field of education.
This year marks the 225th anniversary of the publication of their major work "Practical Education".
In 1798, Richard Lovel Edgeworth and his daughter Maria published the radical educational written work on education, which went against the predominant thinking at the time and was heavily influenced by politics and religion.
This work which proposed a universal, interdenominational system of education was translated into a number of European languages.
Its publication was soon followed by Richard Lovell Edgeworth's Education Bill of 1799.
The bill did not get through parliament, due to factors including the dissolution of the Irish Parliament as a result of the Act of Union and opposition from the established churches to new ideas on education.
He was later appointed to two commissions on education established to inquire into the state of education in Ireland.
Their findings led to the passing of the 1831 Education Act.
While Richard Lovell Edgeworth did not live to see his dream come to pass, his daughter Maria did.
In the late 1830s, she was the applicant for funding to build the first school to be established in Edgeworthstown under the 1831 Education Act and it is now home to the Maria Edgeworth Visitor Centre.
In the early 1800s, Edgeworthstown was a place of pilgrimage for educationalists and scientists from across Europe.
They included William Wordsworth, Walter Scott, Humphry Davy, astronomers William and Caroline Herschel, William Rowan Hamilton and the Swiss philosopher Charles Pictet, who translated Practical Education into French.
