You will have noticed that the Journal of Classics Teaching has changed in appearance in 2020. This is a new, cleaner format, which echoes the Journal's ‘grandfather’ Didaskalos (1963) and which helps with legibility. Key words and author contact details are included, which improve online searchability and facilitate links between journals in the CA stable and more widely. These changes are in common with other CA-sponsored CUP journal publications, which means an improved streamlining of the publication process. Further functionality means that individual downloads of articles and book reviews are possible. These things matter today. The reach is of the Journal is now wide. Some statistics, as of 2020, are worth sharingFootnote 1:
• 698 registrants to online publication alerts.
• 221 mentions in other media (the majority being Twitter).
• 32,657 page views, of which some 10,000 are in the USA, 6,000 in the UK, and the rest spread across Europe, China and India.
• The Journal of Classics Teaching Facebook group has 1,029 members, of whom 798 are active (https://www.facebook.com/groups/568931393210000/)Footnote 2.
The Journal of Classics Teaching tries to be a progressive journal, not just by describing classroom pedagogy, but also by promoting and evaluating novel practices to improve it through the publication of small-scale classroom-based research. Classical subjects in schools and higher education forever seem to be at a crossroads, having to make a utilitarian case for their inclusion in the mainstream curriculum, and to show how they make a positive impact on learners of all backgrounds, attainments and dispositions. Charges that the teaching of Classics has not been sufficiently inclusive are not new. But there have been longstanding and successful efforts to make the subject be not elitist. To these are now added efforts to decolonise the classics curriculum, and to look beyond the narrow study of ‘Greeks and Romans’ to the peoples with whom they came into contact. The Black Lives Matter movement has galvanised teachers to evaluate the potentially detrimental impact that resources and teaching practices may have on students from minority backgrounds. There has been deep concern from teachers about the representation of slaves and women in the ancient world in commonly-used coursebooks used by young students. This situation is pushing publishers to improve their products. The Cambridge School Classics Project, publishers of the Cambridge Latin Course, for example, are engaging in a root-and-branch rewriting of the course in responseFootnote 3. The new coursebook Suburani confronts the issues head-on with a story which does not just seek to ask students to make comparisons between the ancient and the modern worlds, but is also designed to engage them by encouraging them to see themselves – all our students - in the narrative. Confronting these difficult issues has been an uncomfortable process; but it should result in improvements to the materials teachers use with an increasingly diverse body of students.
In addition to all of this, the pandemic lockdown has had a significant impact. The sudden switch to online modes of teaching caught teachers by surprise. And they have coped miraculously. A new problem asserts itself: how to prepare students for examinations which are for the most part firmly unchanged. Covid-19 has reduced the length of time available to teach all subjects, let alone the classical ones. But the four classical subjects are content-heavy and only assessed by terminal examinations in very traditional ways – paper and pen. Teachers have found that there is only so much that they can do online or in hybrid teaching sessions. It's not just a matter of delivering subject knowledge; there's the challenge of teaching students the techniques for answering the questions, most of which depend on advanced literacy skills. At the time of writing, only the GCSE in Ancient History has had its content reduced for the 2021 examinations – a change not accorded to the other classical subjects and unexplained by the Department for Education. While in Scotland the National 5 examinations (equivalent to the GCSEs) have been cancelled for 2021, with teacher assessment being used instead, in England the Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson has merely set back the examinations by three weeks (and then condensed the examination period), as if that will enable students to catch up on the missing months earlier in the year. A further round of examination development (which would likely be small and not on the scale of the education reforms of 2013) is possibleFootnote 4. In the view of many teachers and academics represented at the Classical Association Teaching Board, including the Editor of this Journal, regardless of the current pandemic situation, the examinations do need reform. In the next issue of the Journal we start the process of thinking what teachers might think are appropriate subjects for examination and forms of assessment that might be employed. Contributions to the Journal on this subject are welcome.
In the UK entries for the GCSE and A level in classical subjects remain fairly stable, but fragile.
I am indebted to Alex Orgee, Subject Officer for Classics at OCR, who provided the following commentary on the examination statistics for the Classical Association Teaching Board meeting held in October 2020.
GCSE
GCSE Ancient History entries have remained stable over the last four years hovering at just over 900.
GCSE Classical Civilisation entries have risen by 4.6% and are higher than the final year of the legacy specifications. The entries are around 500 below the peak seen in June 2014.
The number of students taking GCSE Latin nationally grew by 1.8% between 2019 and 2020.
GCSE Classical Greek entries are fairly similar to 2019, but they have dipped below 1,200 for the first time since 2009.
AS level
Entries for Ancient History (-22.6%), Classical Civilisation (-42.8%) and Latin (-43.3%) fell again compared to 2019 entries. However, AS Level Classical Greek entries rose though.
A level
A level Ancient History entries are almost identical to 2019 and comparable to the entry figures in 2015.
Entry figures for A level Classical Civilisation are just over 2,800. This represents a fall of 3.3% compared to 2019. Between 2015 and 2020, national entry figures have dropped by 31.1%. This is most likely due to the move by a large number of centres to only offering 3 A level qualifications.
A level Latin entry figures also fell and dropped to just over 1,000. This is a drop of 20.9% over the last five years.
A Level Classical Greek entry figures dropped again, falling to below 200 candidates. This represents a drop of 25.4% over the last five years.
Meanwhile, the number of teaching posts advertised in the UK remains healthy (despite the lockdown)Footnote 6.
The number of training placements for initial teacher training for Classics has been as follows:
It remains to be seen what the impact of a reduction in the training bursaries from £27,000 to £10,000 for initial teacher training on non-salaried and HEI-based PGCE courses announced by the DfE on 14th October 2020 will have on the supply of qualified teachers for 2021. At the time of writing, a petition has been raised and Faculties of Education are making representations to the DfE (on behalf of all courses).
This edition of the Journal of Classics Teaching is packed with articles which we hope you will enjoy and find useful and informative. Emily Amos’ research article A case study investigation of student perceptions of women as seen in the Cambridge Latin Course in a selective girls’ grammar school and Ella Parodi's A critical investigation of Year 7 students’ perceptions of Roman slavery as evidenced in the stories of the Cambridge Latin Course both examine students’ perceptions of the ancient world as seen through a course textbook. The issues raised about this publication are already being addressed, as previously noted: CSCP takes its responsibilities to learners very seriouslyFootnote 10. But the same issues should also resonate with every teacher's practice in whatever materials they use and we hope the articles provide food for thought for teaching everywhere. From New Zealand, Gwynaeth McIntyre, Charlotte Dunn, and William P. Richardson present Coins in the Classroom, a description of a set of class activities using numismatic evidence to support historical learning as part of a School-University partnership programme. From the Netherlands, Stijn Praet and Berenice Verhelst challenge the traditional role of translation with Teaching Translation Theory and Practice. Maria Pavlou's second part of Game-Informed Assessment for Playful Learning and Student Experience draws attention to the importance of students learning traditional subjects through collaborative and creative learning experiences. My own contribution Introducing Latin: Non-specialist Latin teachers talk draws attention to the need for strategic thinking from all stakeholders if the DfE's ambitious targets are to be met. Two connected articles follow – surveys by Alex Imrie (The Coronavirus Pandemic, Exams Crisis and Classics in Scottish Schools) and by Jessica Dixon (Covid-19, Classical Subjects and the Classroom: Teachers’ Feedback from Summer 2020) which show teachers’ reactions to and concerns about the Scottish and English Governments’ cancellation of the 2020 examinations series and subsequent consultations by the examination boards.
A number of shorter pieces follow, which exemplify the diversity of experiences in the teaching of classical subjects in the past and the present, with maybe some thoughts for the future. Terence Tunberg, Professor of the Latin Language and Literature at the University of Kentucky, provides evidence to show that Latin was an everyday language for educated people after the fall of the Roman Empire in his article Spoken Latin in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance Revisited. Evan Dutmer presents two short articles which describe how he has used tiered versions of philosophical texts in Latin to introduce students to complex but valuable insights into the human condition: Distance Learning with Seneca and Teletherapeia: Ancient Consolation in the Distance Latin Classroom. Jerome Moran helpfully provides guidance for modern developments in classical studies with his article Theory: A Short Guide for Classicists. Two articles follow on similar themes to each other: the successes of two schemes to develop partnerships between schools and universities in order to promote, maintain and expand the provision of classical subjects in areas of the UK which have historically not been well-provided for: Alice Case and Maria Haley's Classics for All North. The view from Liverpool and Paul Grigsby's Bringing Classics to the State Schools of the Midlands: A Year in the Life of the WCN. Back to pedagogy, with Lance Piantaggini's thought-provoking article about inclusive pedagogy: Grammar-Translation: What Is It—Really—For Students? Finally, Maria Haley briefs readers on a project to improve the range of resources about women in the ancient world: Ancient Herstories.
Articles
Amos, A. A case study investigation of student perceptions of women as seen in the Cambridge Latin Course in a selective girls’ grammar school.
Parodi, A. A critical investigation of Year 7 students’ perceptions of Roman slavery as evidenced in the stories of the Cambridge Latin Course.
McIntyre, G., Dunn, C. and Richardson, W. P. Coins in the Classroom.
Praet, S. and Verhelst, B. Teaching Translation Theory and Practice.
Pavlou, M. Game-Informed Assessment for Playful Learning and Student Experience (Part 2).
Hunt, S. Introducing Latin: Non-specialist Latin teachers talk.
Imrie, A. The Coronavirus Pandemic, Exams Crisis and Classics in Scottish Schools.
Dixon, J. Covid-19, Classical Subjects and the Classroom: Teachers’ Feedback from Summer 2020.
Tunberg, T. Spoken Latin in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance Revisited.
Dutmer, E. Distance Learning with Seneca.
Dutmer, E. Teletherapeia: Ancient Consolation in the Distance Latin Classroom.
Moran, J. Theory: A Short Guide for Classicists.
Case, A. and Haley, M. Classics for All North. The view from Liverpool
Grigsby, P. Bringing Classics to the State Schools of the Midlands: A Year in the Life of the WCN.
Piantaggini, L. Grammar-Translation: What Is It—Really—For Students?
Haley, M. Ancient Herstories.
Book Reviews
Bowie (E.) Longus: Daphnis and Chloe (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics). Emily Rushton.
de Blois, (L.) and van der Spe (R.V.) An Introduction to the Ancient World. Peter Liddel.
Graziosi (B.) Homer: A Very Short Introduction. Jo Lashly.
Lawrence (C.) Time Travel Diaries: Adventures in Athens. Cressida Ryan.
Matijašić (I.) Shaping the Canons of Ancient Greek Historiography. Imitation, Classicism, and Literary Criticism. Juliana Costa-Veysey.
Renshaw (J.) In Search of the Romans (second edition). Alan Clague.
Small (D. B.) Ancient Greece: Social Structure and Evolution. Peter Liddel.
Zerba (M.) and Gorman (D.) (edd., revised trans.). Aristotle: Poetics. Maria Bergquist.
Zuckerberg (D.) Not all Dead White Men. Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age. Jo Lashly.
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 office@classicalasociation.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 and some biographical details. 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. 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 have been published in hard copy and made available to members of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers. From 2015 JCT has been available freely online, supported by the Classical Association. Back issues of hard copies of JCT are available from the CA Shop and as downloadable pdfs of individual articles freely online via the Association for Latin Teaching website www.arlt.co.uk.
Open access
