Opening of the Round Square Conference

His Royal Highness Prince Andrew

Mayo College

Sunday 11th October

I am delighted to begin proceedings here this morning to open this year’s International Round Square Conference and to welcome you all to Mayo College.

Normally King Constantine would be in the chair for you. However as you know earlier this year His Majesty underwent heart surgery and he asked me to stand in for him at this conference as he would not be able to attend. I am very pleased to have been able to take up his invitation as a Patron of Round Square.

I am sure that you will all join me in wishing His Majesty a continuing recovery. Before you get into the meat of this conference I want to outline a few thoughts as you go about your deliberations. These cover passion, leadership and commitment.

In order to really be successful you have to have passion. I have a passion for Round Square and Kurt Hahn’s educational philosophy.

The reason is to do with my father, His Royal Highness Prince Philip who sent me and my two brothers to Gordonstoun, founded by Kurt Hahn and a friend of my father. Some dislike their time at school, I am no exception, however I have seen, since leaving Gordonstoun, that the educational ethos and personal discipline that it instilled in me has been a guiding light in my life since. Without the guidance of my father I would never have received the education I now recognise as life enhancing.

We might look at it in today's language as "personal skills". Additional emphasis was placed on concern and compassion for others, a willingness to accept responsibility, a tenacity in pursuit of the truth.  And importantly the idea that failure was a thing that should be experienced.

Round Square also bases its philosophy on the ideas of Kurt Hahn - growing the whole person through academic, physical, cultural and spiritual experiences.     

Now the theme of your conference this year is "lead from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge".  I cannot think of a more suitable theme at this particular time, with growing change in the world.  With the growing understanding between governments about the need to work closely together to reduce weapons of mass destruction, trade and tariff barriers and with the continuing discussions to reduce global emissions, there is greater co-operation, collaboration and understanding between nations. We really are in a globalised world.

I see all these steps forward to improve how we all work together on the planet as liberating events, which should lead to enormous opportunities, in particular for poorer countries, in the years ahead.

While it may not be so obvious, this globalisation also applies to education, and the acquisition of knowledge.

In my role as the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, I travel the world in support of the UK and its business. I meet Heads of State, Presidents, Prime Ministers and Trade Ministers across the globe, in our discussions, about trade and the future there is always a common theme. They all say that they see education of their national workforce as being a key to future success and prosperity.  Most even say that it is their key priority for growth.  Importantly this doesn't only extend from the neck up. Nations need people with a whole person education and experience and your schools are able to give their students a head start in this competitive world out there through the education of your mind, body and spirit.

It is clear that national governments can only continue to improve the standard of living and quality of life for their citizens by empowering them through the development of a better educated workforce. a workforce that can use its brains as well as its brawn; a workforce which can invent, innovate and develop new ideas, products and systems to create wealth, which will feed back to the whole population through higher employment, more resources and receipts for government – and more opportunities as a result for government to develop and support the less well off in society. It really is a virtuous circle.

For example, in India a key area of knowledge development is to empower the farmer and the rural population, to achieve better results from the land through training and education, the provision of better seeds and agricultural technology from greater support through university and post university courses.

But education is not simply about turning out more scientists and engineers, although that is important.

At one level we are talking about skills in such traditional subjects or areas as physics, mathematics, biology and chemistry; but we need the new areas such as information technology and design. It is through the application of these twin lines that we can achieve the solutions to produce equipment, medicine and communications, which will be saleable worldwide and will help both their own nation to develop and in turn other nations to do the same around the world.

But we will always need the humanities - the subjects that develop our understanding and our ability to improve as a human being as a part of this knowledge acquisition.

So, at another level, we are talking about also the acquiring of knowledge to learn how to live a good and fruitful life. This involves not just academic training, but moral and spiritual training to develop one, I would say even the key, part of each individual - their confidence, their relationship with others, and their ability to play a full, and importantly a fulfilling role in their own society.

There is a third strand in all this progress to knowledge. The importance of leadership in this process, and you have recognised this attribute as you have used the word "lead" in the title of your theme for this year.

Good leadership is essential to all of us, at all levels whether individual, school, company or government leadership should respond to new opportunities and also develop new opportunities through its own actions - so, thinking about knowledge, a government can potentially change a nation's fortunes by making significant efforts in improving education, in terms of finance, recruitment of the best teachers and a developed structure for education. This sort of leadership has a vision, and vision is what can lead to ultimate success.

Looking at knowledge and education as a part of the whole, i believe that from education comes greater tolerance and understanding, which in turn will lead to a safer more friendly and prosperous world as a whole. Round Square thinks of its responsibilities to internationalism as a key aspect of increasing understanding and tolerance amongst nations in its deliberations at these conferences and in its international service

Everyone can benefit from education, and by giving everyone a chance of a proper education, they will garner knowledge and experience that in so doing will provide a greater opportunity to make the most of your life, and your contribution to the wider community.

You have a busy week ahead of you and you have a tremendous amount to debate and discuss this week. Remember that you need that passion and tenacity to find the truth and you must understand the need for leadership and should be committed to develop yourself as a human being through knowledge acquisition.

I look forward to being involved in the programme today and meeting as many of you as will be possible in the time available - but there are 650 of you. So I’m afraid that I will not be able to meet you all!

Make the most of it by developing new friendships, get involved in the debate and develop your own knowledge and, when you get back to your schools, pass on what you have learnt here this week. In conclusion I want to remind you what Kurt Hahn spoke of as the seven facets of education:

Aspects of his approach, which produced that blend of responsibility, individuality, teamwork, communication and leadership, all of which have been so important to me.

The first is to give students opportunities for self- discovery: provide different activities and allow them to find out for themselves their passions

The Second is to make the student meet with triumph and defeat. The emotional learning curve from failure is of greater importance than to succeed - because overcoming defeat is to understand strengths and weaknesses.

The Third is to give the student the opportunity of self- effacement in the common cause. Everyone should undertake tasks which are of importance to the community. {Let the responsible students shoulder duties and responsibilities big enough, that when negligently performed, will result in clearly demonstrated failure.}

The Fourth is the provision of time for quiet reflection: take time to evaluate performance and goals getting out of the fast lane for short periods helps you perform better when you're there.

The Fifth is to train the imagination - allow the brain to work and think outside the box.

The Sixth is to make sport important but not predominant - let it be a part of the education of the student and not an end in itself.

The Seventh is to free the sons and daughters of the wealthy and powerful from the limitations of privilege. Perhaps an old-fashioned view but never-the-less true today.

Finally, I would like to thank the Governors, Headmaster and Staff of Mayo College for organizing what I know is going to be an excellent week. We are all very grateful for your work in putting this all together.

So, without further ado, I declare the International Round Conference open.