Education
Two of the main objectives of The Prince of Wales’s working life – his ambition to help young people realise their full potential and his desire to promote investment in the country’s future – come together in his support for improving educational provision and opportunities in the UK. This is evident in the work of many of His Royal Highness’s main charities, especially The Prince’s Teaching Institute which was formed in 2006, as well as his life membership of the National Association of Head Teachers and his patronage of several educational causes.
The Prince’s Drawing School
Created in 2000, The Prince's Drawing School is an educational charity dedicated to teaching drawing. The faculty of over 35 practising artists works on the premise that drawing is a living, evolving language. The studios are in a converted warehouse in Shoreditch, the heart of London's East End creative community.
As well as the MA level and Bursary funded Drawing Year, the school runs a broad range of courses including master classes in the life room, in national museums and out and about, as well as holiday workshops and community programmes. Every week 400 students attend classes at the school. Click here to visit The Prince's Drawing School website.
The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts
The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts aims to teach Arts and Crafts skills which have profound roots in all the major faith traditions. Its courses are centred on its Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts Programmes, post-graduate masters and doctoral degrees, which are validated by the University of Wales. The School’s courses combine theory and practice.
They include geometry, Islamic architecture, icon painting, tilemaking, Islimi/Arabesque, stained glass and mosaic craft.
It is also developing outreach and education programmes for Muslim countries and younger people, establishing vocational courses to teach craft, and building links with institutions, especially in the Arab and Asian worlds. Click here to visit The Prince's School of Traditional Arts website.
The Prince’s Teaching Institute
The Prince’s Teaching Institute was founded in 2006. Its aim is to offer hardworking teachers of English and History with an opportunity, away from the classroom, to debate their subjects with leading academics and writers.
The Institute offers The Prince's Cambridge Programme for Teaching, which is backed by £50,000 from the Government’s Training and Development Agency for schools and is run in partnership with Cambridge University. The Prince said the programme would seek to “re-inspire” teachers of English and History - subjects that The Prince believes are vital to the development of knowledge and insight in young people - in state schools through training sessions, seminars and residential courses.
The Institute builds on the enthusiastic response from teachers to The Prince of Wales’s Education Summer School over the past four years. The Education Summer School offered an annual forum for teachers to step away from the classroom, hear from an inspirational range of speakers, and rediscover the depth and breadth of the subjects they teach. Each year it has been oversubscribed and many delegates have reported that they have changed classroom practices as a result of the course. Click here to visit The Prince's Teaching Institute website.
The Prince's Foundation for Children and The Arts
The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts is an educational charity which provides access for young people who would otherwise grow up having had no, or very limited opportunity, to engage with the arts.
It was launched by The Prince of Wales as a pilot in 2002 and started work as an independent charity in 2006. Since then it has worked with 35, 000 children providing them with a high quality and sustained experience of the arts.
Children & the Arts believe that if denied access to the arts, children miss out on the enormous benefits that our shared cultural heritage can bring. The arts can play a unique role in the development of a child. They can improve self-esteem and confidence as well as a child’s attainment across the curriculum. Perhaps most importantly the arts encourage creativity, experimentation and fun, often changing a child’s attitude towards learning forever.
Children & the Arts two programmes of activity: Start and Quests. Both programmes enable us to bring together local and national arts organisations with primary and secondary schools through funding and support.
Through the work of Children & the Arts children learn that cultural venues are welcoming, accessible and exciting places to visit. We seek to foster in them a lifelong love of the arts.
Click here to visit the The Prince's Foundation for Children and The Arts website.