THE Royal command to attend the Prince of Wales education summer school left some unconvinced. There were plenty of reasons to worry about four days of educational lectures in rural Devon.

Prince Charles is not noted as a progressive educational thinker, for a start. The course, originally scheduled for the holidays, was devised by the private sector in the shape of Bernice McCabe, head of North London Collegiate, one of the country’s most prestigious public schools. And then it emerged that the project had an important helping hand from the former chief inspector, Chris Woodhead.

Four days later, however, when the 83 teachers of English and history returned to their largely West Country schools, the mood was anything but suspicious. Free food, wine and accommodation helped, paid for by an anonymous donor plus pound;15,000 from the Department for Education and Skills. So did 14th-century Dartington Hall, near Totnes in Devon.

But what really impressed them was the extraordinary line-up of writers and academics. It is an unusual event when broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, Ted Wragg, and Melanie Phillips, the right-wing pundit, are no more than bit players in the opening festivities.

The Prince opened the event by blaming the 1960s for undermining education along with agriculture, architecture and medicine.

“We are in danger of creating a society in which children have a diminishing understanding of the place and significance of culture and the distinction between good and bad, creative and mediocre,” he told the audience over dinner in the great hall. Children are losing touch with good spoken English, let alone cultural heritage, he said, as a utilitarian curriculum squeezes out literature and history.

Novelist Joanna Trollope, however, told her audience that there had been no golden age of schooling for most children and that, in this respect, the Prince was badly advised. “Most of my education was very, very dull,” she said. “So let us dispel the notion that we have lost something magical.”

She agreed however that the burden of “bureaucracy, tests and restrictions” needs to be lifted.

Much of the discussion was academically challenging. Dr David Starkey, historian and broadcaster urged teachers to concentrate on the discipline of historical narrative rather than analytical theory, emphasising the importance of chance and individual whim.

Antony Beevor, author of Stalingrad, explained the importance of combining individual accounts of historical events with the grand statistical summaries.

Playwright Tom Stoppard suggested that more biographical context could make great literature more accessible. A lack of freedom and creativity in the classroom was a common thread. Poet Laureate Andrew Motion said that schools should be specially funded to bring in more poets and dramatists.

Trevor Nunn, director of the National Theatre and actress Imogen Stubbs, his partner, gave a demonstration of live theatrical direction using Shakespeare’s sonnets and Romeo and Juliet.

A website is being planned. Transcripts can be had from the office of Bernice McCabe, tel 0208 9528018