Topic summary

Activity - Children at Work

Using photographs, advertisements, and information from the 1851 census, children will learn about the types of job done by Victorian children, and the age at which they started to work. Additional research that could be used as homework or a short classroom task:

• Research changes in laws and draw a timeline showing the changes which led to children not working.
• Research child labour in other countries.

Note
At some stage during the teaching of these Activities, it would be useful to have a class discussion about sources. How could we find out about schooling in our local area in Victorian times? What sources of information could we use? Possibilities will include: libraries, museums and the internet, especially websites with local content, for example, West Sussex Past Pictures.