Classics of literature 'ignored in favour of lightweights'

English literary classics are being ignored by schools in favour of "lightweight stuff" from the rest of the world, a leading private school headteacher warned yesterday.

Schools are also failing to teach children about the heroes of British history, says Edward Mitchell, head of Abbey Gate College in Chester and chairman of the Society of Headmasters and Headmistresses of Independent Schools (SHMIS).

Mr Mitchell also condemned the Government's decision to abandon compulsory foreign language learning beyond the age of 14 as a disaster.

He told the SHMIS annual conference in Chester: "I feel that British history and English literature should be given a much higher profile. Too many young people don't have a solid basic knowledge of British history or a clear view of the significant figures from our past."

Unlike state schools, the private sector is not legally obliged to follow the national curriculum. However, government initiatives tend to influence schools' practices.

Mr Mitchell warned that unless young people had a secure knowledge of their history "we will have failed them and the future".

The Prince of Wales recently voiced similar concerns, arguing that history should be taught in a way that allowed children to be "rooted in their tradition". Prince Charles also urged a return to a traditional curriculum in English literature centred on Shakespeare and the classics.

Mr Mitchell agreed that studying Shakespeare was not enough. "It is all very well introducing new elements to the curriculum – American literature and world literature – but it should not be at the expense of the important and seminal authors in the English canon," he said.

"There is, in my view, an awful lot of lightweight stuff being taught in the name of literature."