Autumn 2024 brought in a Labour government. After fourteen years of education policy initiated by the Conservative Michael Gove, under the new Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson, state-educated in Sunderland, what changes might we see in the education system – and what might that mean for Classics? First, a change of tone from the Department of Education: a reset, perhaps, from the past administration's demonisation of much of the teaching professions as ‘The Blob’ – a supposedly vast, unmoving, restrictive model, resistant to change and improving standards. Instead, the start of a more consultative curriculum overview, the promise of the inclusion of more creative arts, an emphasis on the importance of oracy, less content in examinations, sorting out the provision for pupils with SEND (Department for Education, 2024). In all of this, it looks as if the days of the EBacc are numbered – and it seems anyway that the qualification was ‘cooked up’ by the previous Secretary of State to provide a sound-bite for a TV interview rather than with any serious consideration of the impact across a whole generation of children in schools today (Freedman, Reference Freedman2024). Its aim as a means to support subjects such as Modern Foreign Languages has not worked as had been hoped and the more creative subjects, such as music and art have been losing out (Hallahan, Reference Hallahan2022). For Latin, Ancient Greek and Ancient History, given some sort of protection by being members of the EBacc club, perhaps the future might now be less rosy. Progress 8 measures have been withheld since the pandemic – have we missed not having them, or are there better means of school accountability? Will Labour be as interested in school competition as a means of driving up standards as much as school collaboration? What part will school examinations play in that – and what changes are anticipated in the number, content and style of examinations in the digital age? While there is no indication that Academies and Free Schools will be required to be readmitted to Local Authority control, they will be required now to follow the National Curriculum like everyone else. With financial incentives long withdrawn and forced academisation now ended, will the complex landscape of school types remain static, or will there be some smoothing out and greater conformity? As for the curriculum itself, whatever the future holds, the Department for Education has already commissioned a platform to help teachers plan lessons using Artificial Intelligence – something we know may herald release from time-consuming lesson-planning (Bowater, Reference Bowater2024). The danger is that it might lead to homogeneity and blandness. And will Classics be included – or spared? We wait to see what plans there are to recruit and train the promised 6,500 extra teachers which the Labour Manifesto promised. A whole day every fortnight for teachers to plan lessons at home has just been suggested: the provision of more flexible working patterns as a means to retain staff (Martin, Reference Martin2024). Ofsted will no longer issue single word judgements and, at the moment that I write, it is announced that schools many no longer use Ofsted logos on their promotional materials (Cumiskey, Reference Cumiskey2024). Is this a reflection on the degree to which the Department for Education is now going to trust schools and teachers more, treat them with fairness and usher in a new age of agency and empowerment rather than compliance and hyper-accountability? We wait and see.
Research Articles
Vereeck, A., Bracke, E., De Herdt, K. and Janse, M. Revered and reviled. An outline of the public debate regarding classical language education.
Aguilar Garcia, M. L. Vocabulary Acquisition in the Language Classroom: what it is, how it works, which strategies and approaches are suitable for Latin instruction.
Casselman, C. An Investigation into the Impact of Vocabulary Retrieval Practice as a Method of Formative Assessment in a Latin AS-level Unseen Translation Context.
Hreben, J. Writing in Latin: an experiment in composition among early-stage Latin learners.
Trusted, A. Rewriting the Textbook: An investigation into students' practices with creative composition in a Year 7 Latin class.
Mistry, D. How can the reworking of Cicero's Pro Cluentio create an appreciation for his literature? Action research exploring methods to support first year A-Level students encountering original Latin.
Letchford, C. Teaching Greek: from school to university via fifteenth century Florence.
Moser, C. and Thomas, C. Rome: The Game. Creating an Online Course as an Interactive Adventure Game.
Oulitskaia, V. Using Assassin's Creed: Odyssey to teach Olympia as part of the Classical Civilisation A Level.
Di Gioia, I. ‘I think learning ancient Greek via video game is…’: An online survey to understand perceptions of Digital Game-Based Learning for ancient Greek.
Ross, E. and Baines, J. Treading Water: New Data on the Impact of AI Ethics Information Sessions in Classics and Ancient Language Pedagogy.
Burbank, D. A survey involving secondary students with dyslexia studying Latin or a modern foreign language.
Hunt, S. Classical Studies Trends: teaching Classics in secondary schools in the UK.
Forum
Bainbridge, A. The Spelling Problem.
Moran, J. Now you saw it, now you didn't: the perception and reception of word order in ancient Greek and Latin texts.
O'Reilly, M. Report on ‘Better Arguments in Scottish Classrooms’.
Book reviews
Aguilar (M.L.) and Terrega (J.). Via Latina: De Lingua et Vita Romanorum. Clive Letchford.
Bracke (E). Classics at Primary School: A Tool for Social Justice. Tim Adelani.
Cambridge School Classics Project. Cambridge Latin Course: Book II (UK Fifth Edition). Chloe Barnett
Casati (C). Clytemnestra. Mother, Monarch, Murderer, Magnificent. Zara Binji.
Davis (L). A Capitol Death. Jodie Reynolds.
Many articles for the Journal of Classics Teaching start up as conference pieces or teach-meet talks or presentations at staff meetings. The Editor always welcomes interesting or novel pieces, as well as articles which simply describe good teaching practice or events or things of interest to other teachers. Readers should feel confident to submit articles in the usual way to the Classical Association.
Submitting an article to JCT
The Journal of Classics Teaching is the leading journal for teachers of Latin, Ancient Greek, Classical Civilisation and Ancient History in the UK. It originated as the voice of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers in 1963 under the title Didaskalos, being renamed Hesperiam over the years, and finally JCT. It has a broadly-based membership including teachers in the primary, secondary and tertiary education sectors. JCT welcomes articles, news and reports about Classics teaching and items of interest to teachers of Classics both from the UK and abroad. If you wish to submit an article, it should be sent to the JCT Editor, c/o the Classical Association.
Articles are welcome on classroom teaching practice or on studies about the teaching and learning of Classics in the UK and abroad should be up to 7,000 words. There should be clear pedagogical or academic content. News and reports of events of general interest to teachers of Classics should be between 1,000 and 2,000 words.
For 50 years JCT and its predecessors were published in hard copy and made available to members of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers. From 2015 JCT has been available freely online, generously supported by the Classical Association.
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