Prince Charles launches fightback against trendy teaching

He warned that many schools are no longer passing down "bodies of knowledge" to the next generation, denying pupils an understanding of their place in the world.

He revealed that a teaching institute he founded last year will accredit staff who shun fashionable education theories and instead give pupils a firm grounding in literature and history.

Teachers accepted on to the programme would be able, after a year, to use a logo bearing the Prince of Wales's feathers on departmental letterheads and websites.

In comments that will infuriate many in the education establishment, the prince said the "quality mark" scheme is needed to improve the quality of teaching in history, English and science.

"Why are we doing all of this?" he asked in a speech at Clarence House.

"Quite simply, I happen to believe there is a desperate need to re-inspire teachers, to encourage the teaching of bodies of knowledge and to recapture some of the timeless principles of teaching which are essential, at the end of the day, to the proper appreciation of the world we inhabit.

"There are some critics and commentators who would have us believe that the whole system in this country has become so far removed from the basic tenets of what constitutes a good education that it is too far gone to do anything about."

Huge sums spent on education initiatives have failed because teaching has been overlooked, he suggested, and a renewed focus on the "craft of teaching" is needed.

The prince has already voiced concern about "prevailing dogmas" which value "thinking skills before learning about subjects".

In a speech to teachers two years ago, he warned that "fashionable" teaching theories risked denying children an understanding of their cultural heritage.

He said the "foundations of civilised existence" were under threat from the "voguish" drive to make subjects relevant to pupils' lives.

He set up the Prince's Teaching Institute last year to give staff yearround access to expert help and masterclasses.

These cover topics such the legacy of the British Empire, Shakespeare's plays and the modern novel.

In the initiative announced yesterday, secondaries will be able to join a "schools programme" if they can show they have increased the subject knowledge of their staff in English, history or science.

After a year of membership, schools will be able to use the teaching institute's logo.

They will also be awarded free places at residential summer schools and access to Web resources.

A report by the Civitas think-tank claimed earlier this year that key academic disciplines were being slimmed down and hijacked to promote political causes.

Concern was heightened by a new secondary curriculum which, for instance, no longer specifies that Winston Churchill should be covered in lessons on the Second World War.

• Schools should let children pick up bruises and grazed knees to teach them how to handle risk, a headmaster urged yesterday.

Robert McKenzie Johnston, who heads an all-girls private school, said health and safety is too often used as an excuse to prevent pupils enjoying character-building outdoor activities.

He said pupils at his school, Queen Mary's near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, are allowed to 'toboggan' down staircases, walk in the woods at night without a torch, camp in the grounds and go caving, canoeing, abseiling and gorge-walking.

Mr McKenzie Johnston added: "If they learn themselves what is sensible, they will make mistakes and get grazed knees and bruised noses - but they will learn from that what they can and cannot do."

Speaking at the Girls' Schools Association conference in Leeds, he said: "Health and safety is about judgment and common sense, it's about protecting the child and not the institution."

• Big comprehensives would be divided into a series of smaller schools on the same site under plans being considered by ministers.

The proposals would see a return to the traditional house system, used widely in independent schools.

Pupils would be divided into units of 150 and moved through school with the same teachers under the plans from Teach First, a scheme to get top graduates into teaching.