I am writing this editorial on the last day of the year. We do not yet live in a post covid world: the BBC news tells me of an alarming upward trend in people diagnosed in the Christmas period, especially in Oxford – and that is without the influx of students at the beginning of the new academic year. Things look grim.
But there are many things also to celebrate, in the field of classics teaching at any rate. Many teachers have learnt to do new things with online conferencing and the use of digital media more generally. The issue of access to classical subjects has changed from a lack of access to the type of access. I want to draw attention to the huge growth of online formal and informal Continuing Professional Development (CPD) offered by teachers for teachers and by universities for teachers and students. Also, social media has enabled more voices to be heard from teachers with direct experiences of working in the classroom: the noise can be overwhelming, sometimes, but is is nearly always kindly meant. Information and ideas get disseminated fast – much faster than when I started my teaching career in 1988. At that time, the only CPD on offer after my PGCE was that given by my Local Education Authority, and as my school was one of only two in the entire district of Havering which offered classical subjects of any kind, the offer was rather slim. Today, CPD is very much a ground-up movement, with contributors reflective of practical teaching, and supportive of each other. There is much sharing of resources, such as worksheets and workbooks, and digital offerings such as quizzes and tests. The focus is mainly on exams, but contributions from examiners themselves are disallowed by Ofqual rules. Common threads are on subject matter and exam technique, which perhaps reflect some ambiguity in the examination specifications ad the fact that they loom especially large in school accountability measures.
New course materials for teaching classical languages and material culture are now bedding in. Suburani, with its dynamic and arresting storyline set in the time of Nero, is already in two volumes, catering for GCSE language, and a third is promised for the move towards original literature. A thriving website with online teachers’ notes and resources fleshes out the original and encourages teachers to modify materials to suit their own and their students’ preferences. A Greek course is being considered. De Romanis, a more traditional route recently published for learning about the Latin language, also in two books; a third book is promised to take to it up to GCSE. The Cambridge Latin Course UK 5th edition Book 1 has been published too: in answer to some criticism, the authorial team has brought the subject matter up to date, while retaining the attractions of the story-based approach, tying up some of the loose ends of the narrative, and maintaining the pedagogical principles of the original. Book 2 is imminent and Book 3 is under preparation.
There is much to look forward to in the New Year!
Articles
Manolidou, E., Goula, S. & Sakka, V. Ancient Greek for Kids: From Theory to Praxis.
Swalec, J. Visual Translation: A Creative Tool for Practising Metacognition and Analysing Agency and Power.
Forsyth, H. Building a virtual Roman city: Teaching history through video game design.
Perale, M. ‘I Still See the Elitism’. Classical languages and the language of class at Liverpool.
McMillan, I. Triennium Linguae Latinae: A case study of introducing Latin to the Key Stage 3 timetable in a comprehensive school.
Bragg, E. Swords, sandals, and toasted panini: Delivering cine-antiquity to sixth form students.
Cooper, M. To Read or Not to Read: Trialling an Extensive Reading Program in a Year 10 Latin Classroom.
Taylor, A., Holmes-Henderson, A. & Jones, S. Classics education in Northern Irish primary schools; curriculum policy and classroom practice.
Moran, J. Oedipus Philosophus: A Thought Experiment.
Moran, J. Lost in Translation.
Robinson, L. To what extent do Socratic seminar activities encourage engagement in Classical Civilisation lessons?
Canfarotta, D. & Lojacono, C. Formative assessment and key competences for a conscious recovery after COVID-19: An Action-Research at a school in Italy to enhance reflection starting from mistakes.
Trafford, S. Reflections on the new International Baccalaureate Diploma Classical Languages Syllabus.
Stephenson, D. 42nd JACT Latin Summer School – 2022 Director's Report.
Merali-Smith, S. & Nongbri, A. Directors’ Report: East London Classics Summer School (August 2022).
Book Reviews
Augoustakis, (A). & Cyrino (M). (eds.). Screening Love and War in Troy: Fall of a City. Gary Fisher.
Albert (L). Greek Mythology. The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook. Joanna Lashly.
Andrews (C). Daughter of Sparta. John Martino.
Beard (M). Twelve Caesars. Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern. Donald MacLennan.
Bradley (G). Early Rome to 290BC: The Beginnings of the City and the Rise of the Republic. Juliana Costa-Veysey.
Clark (B). Athens, City of Wisdom. Jessica Dixon.
Davies (J). Myths, Monsters and Mayhem in Ancient Greece. Alan Clague.
Davis (L). Desperate Undertaking. Joanna Lashly.
Fiennes (P). A Thing of Beauty. Travels in Mythical and Modern Greece. Hilary Meyrick-Long.
Flower (H). (ed.). Empire and Religion in the Roman World. Tim Adelani.
Ganiban (R). Vergil: Aeneid 7. Clive Letchford.
Heneage (J). The Shortest History of Greece. Stephanie Saunders.
Heywood (C). Daughters of Sparta. Jodie Reynolds.
Hudson (H). & Blatchford (R). Must Do Better: How to Improve the Image of Teaching and Why it Matters. Jessica Dixon.
Martino (J). & O'Kane (M). Olympia: The Birth of the Games. Alan Clague.
Meineck (P). (ed., trans.). Aristophanes: Frogs. Ben Greenley.
Morgan (J). Roman Britain Puzzles. Joanna Lashly.
Parker (J). The Iliad and the Odyssey: The Trojan War: Tragedy and Aftermath. Juliet O'Brien.
Piantaggini (L). Poenica purpuraria. A Latin Novella. Clive Letchford.
Porter (J). Homer: The Very Idea. John Godwin.
Price (J)., Finkelberg (M). & Shahar (Y). (eds.). Rome: An Empire of Many Nations: New Perspectives on Ethnic Diversity and Cultural Identity. Tim Adelani.
Relihan (J). (ed., trans.) Lucian: Three Menippean Fantasies. Hilary Walters.
Saylor (S). Dominus. Jodie Reynolds.
Sellars (J). The Pocket Epicurean. John Godwin.
Storey (J). Livy, History of Rome I: A Selection. Edmund Gazeley.
Summerton (N). Greco-Roman Medicine and What It Can Teach Us Today. Stephanie Holton.
Symonds (M). Hadrian's Wall: Creating Division. Timothy Adelani.
Tsaknaki (C). (ed.). Ovid, Heroides. A Selection. Chloë Barnett.
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 canews@classicalassociation.org.
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.
All articles should be submitted in Arial 12 point, 1.5 line-spaced and with non-justified margins, and should include the author's name, email address and some biographical details, including affiliation where appropriate. Images, graphs, diagrams and tables should be submitted separately as jpgs or pdfs as appropriate, with an indication in the text where they should be included. If necessary, endnotes are preferred rather than footnotes. In general, JCT prefers references to conform to the author-date referencing style of the American Psychological Association (APA). The Editor can supply further details of this referencing style if desired. Please ensure that you have permission to reproduce photographs of pupils or the relevant copyright for images, or give details of the origin of the image used. Recent editions of the journal give a guide to the layout of articles.
After submission by the author, the article may be submitted to peer review. The Editor reserves the right to suggest any changes that are felt are needed to be made and makes minor corrections. If major changes are thought to be needed, the author will be asked to rewrite the section which needs changing. Once accepted, the author is assumed to have assigned the right to JCT to distribute the publication electronically. Articles are copyrighted by their respective authors, but if published after electronic appearance, JCT will be acknowledged as the initial place of publication.
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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