In 1825 there were 1,490 schools connected with the Society, containing about 100,000 pupils.

The improvements introduced into education by Bell, Lancaster, and Pestalozzi were largely adopted.

Great attention was paid to needlework....

A great number of useful publications were printed by the Society, and we have the high authority of Dr.Doyle for stating that he never found anything objectionable [to Catholics] in them.[23] Take, again, as an evidence of the progressive spirit of the Irish thinkers on education, the remarkable scheme of national education which, after the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act, was formulated by Mr.Thomas Wyse, of Waterford.

In addition to elementary schools, Mr.Wyse proposed to establish in every county, 'an academy for the education of the middle class of society in those departments of knowledge most necessary to those classes, and over those a College in each of the four provinces, managed by a Committee representative of the interests of the several counties of the provinces.' 'It is a matter of importance,' wrote Mr.Wyse, 'for the simple and efficient working of the whole system of national education, that each part should as much as possible be brought into co-operation and accord with the others.' He foresaw, too, that one of the needs of the Irish temperament was a training in science which would cultivate the habits of 'education, observation, and reasoning,' and he pointed out that the peculiar manufactures, trades, and occupations of the several localities would determine the course of studies.