The ability to translate unseen passages is a skill tested in both Latin A-level and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. Higher IB candidates are expected to translate a passage of 105–125 words of Latin poetry (in this case, Ovid's Metamorphoses) as the first of their externally marked papers. The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) uses unseen passages to ‘measure the [students’] ability to understand and translate texts in the original language’ (2014, p. 25). The passages are marked according to two criteria: (a) meaning; (b) vocabulary and grammar. In order to access the highest grades, the students must provide a ‘logical translation [in which] errors do not impair the meaning’ and ‘render vocabulary appropriately and grammar accurately and effectively’ (IBO, 2014, pp. 28–9).

With regards to the latest European Recommendations, developing key competences has become an important goal of education. The purpose of this comparative study is to focus on this topic considering the teaching of Latin and Greek in upper secondary school in Italy and Spain. A multiple case study with a mixed research design was used, with 173 students and 25 teachers as participants in the quantitative part and 40 students and 18 teachers in the qualitative part. The underlined results are a) the importance of working on the learning concepts of the students of Classics, as this influences the way they study b) the teaching factors that help pupils to develop key competences are evaluation, feedback, teacher personality, interactivity and discipline. Useful paths for daily teaching and new perspectives for future research in this field are offered.

This paper will investigate the efficacy of using game-based learning to increase motivation in Key Stage 3 boys (aged 11–14) at a single-sex, non-selective free school located in inner London. During observations of classes I have seen a spectrum of varying motivation in the classroom. As such, the aim of this game-inspired motivation should, as this paper will find, have a clearly demonstrable influence on their academic studies. This will be examined through measuring both an increase in intercultural communication competence and a desire to autodidactically research these historical and classical topics. Whilst the long-term effects of this research paper on its participants will not be properly understood for years to come, what can be currently measured, I hope, can offer genuine excitement in the area of digital games and motivation.

If the modern oral hypothesis, beginning in the 1920s (see 17 below), about the composition of early Greek epic poetry is correct (a ‘paradigm shift’ in Homeric studies according to Casey Dué), there were many poets who over centuries, beginning perhaps in the middle-to-late Bronze Age, composed in performance many different versions of epic poems, including poems about the Trojan War, and including the subject matter of the Iliad and the Odyssey, vestiges of which survive on papyrus fragments and in the manuscripts of later authors. But the versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey that we have were not the work of many poets but, for the most part, of a single poet. The overall unity of the poems cannot be explained, or explained away, by any theory that posits multiple, successive authorship spanning many years.

In ‘Greek Inscriptions: insights and resources in the classroom and beyond’ (Liddel, 2017), I outlined some of the opportunities and perspectives that the study of inscriptions offers to learners getting familiar with the history and culture of ancient Greece at pre-university stage, and I considered the obstacles and opportunities that teachers and students face when trying to access them. That piece very much concentrated on inscriptions as a source for teachers and candidates of OCR's A-level Ancient History. In this essay I take a much broader approach to make a case for the relevance of ancient Greek inscriptions to pre-18 education, considering the ways in which they inform our understanding of Athenian society and contribute to the development of skills of analysis and evaluation of evidence. I highlight the growing significance of the Attic Inscriptions Online website, the Attic Inscriptions in UK Collections project, the newly-launched Attic Inscriptions: Education resource and the AIO YouTube channel to learners’ critical engagement with sources for the ancient Greek world.

The collective mind often attributes the image of a modern Latin classroom to a teacher writing on a chalkboard in front of students eagerly memorising the declensions in silence. However, as part of their search for innovative and effective practices, Latin instructors have consistently expanded their gaze beyond the traditional parameters of rote memorisation for at least since the pioneering efforts of W.H.D. Rouse, looking to more innovative models presented by novel methods for inspiration and to the halls of predecessors in hopes of fostering a more engaging learning environment. Upon close comparative study between the modern pedagogical methods in Latin classrooms and the perspective of Renaissance scholar Petrarch, this study identified a commonality between the two: emphasis on dialogue between different members of the classroom and personal interpretations of preceding authors’ works for a better opportunity of comprehending the content. Grounded in the philosophies of the Socratic method, Petrarch claimed that an important element of the tradition of pedagogy finds expression in dialogues, imitation, and the significance of fully comprehending the topic in pursuit of wisdom. Likewise, many institutions of the U.K. and the United States, strengthened by the emergence of dialectic assessment applications during the Covid-19 Pandemic, are working towards a new norm in place. After conducting an in-depth interpretation of primary and secondary sources regarding Petrarch's pedagogy, as well as research of its modern developments and the applications, the comparison suggests a new direction for the Classics community to consider going forward.

Considering the concept of critical teaching, teachers should seek to ensure the active participation of students, emphasisng the adoption of student-centred and group-centred teaching methods, which will provide students with relevant motivation for learning. From this perspective the current article focuses on a teaching proposal for the course of Ancient Greek Language in Greece and Cyprus, presenting the method of jigsaw-based cooperative learning as a teaching practice which promotes both active student participation and group cooperation. According to this teaching practice, the teacher actively involves the students in the learning process, promoting higher-level cognitive, metacognitive and emotional functions. Not only is this method compatible with the broader contemporary pedagogical and didactic principles, which aim to provoke students' interest, cultivate their social skills and relationships, develop their personal self-perception, and create autonomous and fulfilled personalities, but also it is harmonised with the main aims of the Ancient Greek Language Curriculum in these countries, which are fully aligned with both their education policy and their societal needs.

This paper builds on the work presented previously in this journal by Poupounaki-Lappa et al. (2021), which described the development of a communicative test of Reading and Language Use of Classical Greek calibrated to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) at levels A1 and A2 (Council of Europe, 2001). In the current paper, the two tests of Classical Greek are calibrated both together and to the CEFR. In addition to describing the methodology for comparing the two separate tests of Classical Greek, the paper is also designed to be of interest to educators of other classical languages. It is hoped that they may find it useful not only by facilitating robust test design, but also by demonstrating the methods by which tests can be linked together on a common scale (as with the CEFR) or linking tests one to another (e.g., different end-of-year tests, at different points in time).

The representation of the ‘dying Socrates’ was extremely popular among artists during the 17th and 18th centuries, while there are several artworks with this concept during the early 19th century. This article's main aim is to use the methodological tool of the Grammar of Visual Design in forming a teaching proposal based on the Harvard University ‘Artful Thinking Project’. This teaching proposal can be applied to a Language, a Philosophy or a History course. As a second aim, we propose a new typology for that era's artworks on the subject of the last moments of Socrates.

We are two experienced teachers looking to make a small contribution to the Classics community.

It has been argued that learning a second language requires more self-motivation than other courses (Horwitz, 1995). This article reviews literature on motivation in foreign language classrooms and discusses reasons for the lack of motivation among students in second language classes. Particular attention will be given to addressing reasons why students in Latin classrooms may have less motivation than in other classes. Specifically, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation will be discussed in terms of a Latin classroom. Additionally, this article will discuss what steps can be taken by the teacher to increase motivation and engagement through gameplay, creating a safe space to make mistakes, and turning extrinsic motivation into intrinsic motivation.

The Intermediate Certificate in Classical Greek (ICCG) is a new qualification being developed primarily for learners of Classical Greek on limited time for whom sitting the full GCSE is unrealistic. It is endorsed by the Classical Association and Classics for All.