Introduction
We are now at a turning-point. The size of the National Curriculum, the financial implications of Local Management of Schools, the weight of school accountability borne by the GCSEs, the dearth of school funding and the atomisation of the education system through the Gove reforms of 2010–14 have all together made the support and development of classical subjects, let alone their reintroduction, continue to be a challenge (Hunt, Reference Hunt, Holmes-Henderson, Hunt and Musie2018). And yet the autonomy which schools more generally (and academies and free schools in particular) have been granted under the same reforms offers senior school leaders an opportunity to modify the curriculum, if they wish, to find a place for classical subjects. Further impetus, perhaps, comes from two government organisations: The Department for Education (DfE) and OfstedFootnote 3. The DfE expects that academies and free schools use the freedom they have from following the National Curriculum as a foundation on which they can build something more ambitious for all students. Ofsted articulates this point well in its new schools’ inspection framework. For a school inspected to be found to be ‘Good’:
The curriculum remains as broad as possible for as long as possible. Pupils are able to study a strong academic core of subjects, such as those offered by the EBacc. There is high academic/vocational/technical ambition for all pupils, and the school does not offer disadvantaged pupils or pupils with SEND a reduced curriculum. (Ofsted, 2019).
Ofsted repeats the DfE's ambitions for schools to enter more students for the EBacc group of qualifications (to which GCSE Latin, Ancient Greek and Ancient History belong), saying:
It is the government’s national ambition that 75% of Year 10 pupils in state-funded mainstream schools should be starting to study EBacc GCSE courses nationally by 2022 (taking their examinations in 2024), rising to 90% by 2025 (taking their examinations in 2027). (Ofsted, 2019).
The targets are unlikely to be met unless there is further incentivisation. The British Council's 2018-19 Language Trends Survey Report noted a decline of 19% in students taking GCSE modern foreign languages over the last five years (British Council, 2019). However, the DfE continues to see the EBacc as a means to encourage and improve the uptake of Modern Foreign Languages at GCSE, and Latin is also seen as an important support for Modern Languages (personal communication, DfE).
Amanda Spielman, the Chief Inspector for Ofsted, noted that the ambitions for academies and free schools should apply to all students in every type of school, saying:
Our research showed that schools in the most challenging circumstances can build and teach a strong, coherent and well-sequenced curriculum, just as well as any others. That's why we believe that our new framework is fair to these schools: professionals can build a good curriculum in any context. (Spielman, Reference Spielman2020).
Encouraged by the DfE and Ofsted, therefore, the opportunity to broaden the curriculum through the inclusion of subjects that are outside the immediate National Curriculum seems to have been grasped by many state-maintained secondary schools, whether they be academies, free schools or local-authority. Uptake of Latin seems to have benefitted from this. For example, between 2015 and 2018 the number of students studying classical subjects supported by initiatives funded by the charity Classics for All rose from 2,625 to 13,632. Nationally, Classics for All has worked with 429 state-maintained primary schools and 390 state-maintained secondary schools over the last ten years (Classics for All, 2020). Other organisations, such as the Cambridge School Classics ProjectFootnote 4, the Primary Latin ProjectFootnote 5 and Hands-Up EducationFootnote 6 have also worked hard to increase the number of state-maintained schools where classical subjects are offeredFootnote 7.
The interviews
This article is based around interviews the author has had with teachers in four of the schools in which Classics for All has helped to put classical subjects onto the curriculum. The schools and teachers have been anonymised A, B, C and D. The schools’ performance statistics have been sourced through the DfE website (Department for Education, 2020). The schools all exhibit signs of disadvantage. The percentage of students on Free School Meals in three schools is above the national average. The percentage of students with English as an Additional Language is above the national average in all four schools. The percentage of students who attained grade 5 or above in English and Maths at GCSE is below average in three of the schools. Attainment is below average in all four schools.
School A: Latin on timetable for all Year 7s in a voluntary-aided school in a town
Bea: Started at 16. I got GCSE in 2 years. We did an hour a week. Grammar school, and there we are. We started there, and we were 6 weeks through CLC [Book 1]. We just got it; but we are here - we need to break it down. They don't get it straightway. I didn't do Classics, much as the Head of Sixth [in my own school] wanted me. Latin was in the pipeline [here], so [the Head of Languages here] said: ‘Come and work here!’ It's very different from the other side of the classroom.
Interviewer: You have lots of students to teach?
Bea: I have. We are only doing the Year 7s. We have 6 classes.
Interviewer: Is that the whole year group?
Bea: All of them. About 27 in a class.
Interviewer: Pretty good.
Bea: It's not bad.
Interviewer: It's not a selective school…
Bea: Oh, no. It's interesting in looking at the idea of it. I always knew it was going to help with anything; and the grammar we weren't taught in English. So, I approach it with that in mind. But these pupils can't see the benefit of it all. They are enjoying it. They appear to be. So, I've got 60 children that I'm teaching, two of the classes. It's OK. They're liking the stories. But it's being able to translate it in a meaningful way to get to grips with the language. My aim to enthuse them to carry on. They do it two years and then we offer it for GCSE. It's to increase the languages they are offered. Languages here [are] a bit [low] and after Ofsted. We went up from Requires Improvement to Good. The Year 7 were quite tricky. They had lots of handholding through primary school, and then they come to secondary school, there's no hand to hold.
Interviewer: And Latin is compulsory for all Year 7s. How frequent are the lessons?
Bea: One hour a week. We took it away from Design Technology.
Interviewer: Did Design Technology go down?
Bea: It went down. It had two lessons. Now they have one. They still get their Design Technology.
Interviewer: So, in order to enthuse them, you want to teach them grammar?
Bea: They seem to be very interested in Roman Civilisation. It's what enthuses. They really enjoy learning language through stories. We're trying to do that through French. It's just increasing their interest, to increase uptake for Modern Foreign Languages. Take up is very low. We don't force them to do the EBacc. We have kids in Year 8 who say they aren't going to do Modern Foreign Languages. Year 7s are enthusiastic. One of the things - we've really been pushing the history side of the Latin and that you don't have to speak it.
Interviewer: Will Latin be the Ebacc language?
Bea: We're hoping it will be addition to Modern Foreign Languages – and maybe a replacement in some cases.
Interviewer: So, French and then Latin.
Bea: I was at a comprehensive school 3 miles that way, where I did my training – teaching a group of 30 boys languages is not the easiest thing…But the ones that do [carry on] – I've found with the Key Stage 4 classes – they want to work. There's no derailing the lesson. They are all trying to do the best they can. [Here] the whole of Year 9 has 18 students. One class of 10. One of 8. It's all very nice. It's like ‘private school’.
School B: Latin club in a sponsored academy in London
Interviewer: Originally you couldn't find time – has it improved?
Louisa: Lots of times it's always off timetable. Last year, it was after school, on Thursday. It's always me. It didn't work well. It was 4 pupils. This year it's more complicated. It was impossible. The only possibility was lunchtime.
Interviewer: That's your lunch.
Louisa: 45 minutes. It was thought of as an option. We discussed it with the headteacher; and then he tried to find a slot. He tried to see if there was one time, but then he realised it would make it too complicated for the music teacher.
Interviewer: Music is a big thing here.
Louisa: Monday is piano, Tuesday is [something else]. You can't find the space. School ends at 3, but then they stay after. But that's when the kids are usually doing another club.
Interviewer: You said the drop-out rate has been big. One went to another school. One found it overwhelming. How far do you think your getting?
Louisa: Still slow. Some of it. Do Book 1 [of the Cambridge Latin Course] in one year. We finished Book 1 before September. Some of the kids had to go to detentions or sometimes I only had one pupil. So, we got delayed. Now I'm on Book 2, stage 14.
Interviewer: What's your aim? Does that one want to carry on?
Louisa: She does. She's very keen. Perhaps with the progress it could be a bit tight. [In] one of the Classics For All newsletters, [there] was [an invitation to] the Spelling BeeFootnote 14? But it said minimum number was 5; so, it was really – they were very enthusiastic, But then we saw there was a team required – and actually I promised them they would go to Bath. And she won an award and she chose to have the money to give to the department, and so we need to have a trip, and I will ask the boys.
Interviewer: Why not just take ten kids? Just take some more, then it might encourage them - though the GCSE might be a big step.
Louisa: I wasn't sure what the options were. I just have thought of the GCSE, but if there's an Entry Level [exam], that would be great.
School C: Latin at lunchtime in a sponsored academy in a small town
Dan: I think, we are doing it for Key Stage 3…Seeing how we go from there. The last week before the timetable, we had 18, Year 7–9s…We have four Year 9s, because of the timetable.
Interviewer: Is that because - ?
Dan: The timetable has changed because of Year 11 mock exams. It's lunchtime. Year 9 have to – I have about 16 across Years 7–9. Predominantly Year 7s,…four boys, a Year 9 and three Year 7 boys. They're pretty keen.
Interviewer: What's the rate of progress?
Dan: We are progressing pretty well. We have got the money from the Roman SocietyFootnote 15 and they have a meeting in February and I'm hoping. We are doing OK. We are into Stage 3 [of the Cambridge Latin Course], and -
Interviewer: - That's in a month -
Dan: Since we came back, since half term, about 5 weeks. There's a teacher who has been to Pompeii. He is putting together a presentation of photos. We have had a look at these bits of texts, on Friday. We had a look at Caecilius in the forum. We are considering what the forum is [used for]. When we get books, we will make better progress. I'm using pdfs. They have folders where they keep all the sheets in.
Interviewer: Could you describe a typical lesson?
Dan: It's still lunchtime and class, they get lunchtimes, they come in as and when they manage to get their lunch. So usually start with a reminder: vocabulary. Can you remember what these words are? Letting them trickle in. They get their new photocopy. What's this look like? A reference to the past. If we try to translate something or they will try to translate something, it will take a long time. If we look at the house or the forum. We tend to alternate it: two [with a] languages focus, one cultural. We use the pictures a lot; we try to get a piece translated. Where we are not ideal is the practice sentences, but without books, it's a bit hard. I think I've got eight or ten students [who] - if I sent them home - they'd do the practice sentences.
School D: Latin enrichment class in a converter academy in a large town
Lily: I wanted to do it as part of a debating thing, but it turned into a Classics thing, because I did some debating in my NQT year. It was nice, so RSC and all that. I went. There is a lady - Anna Reynard - and she works in Leicester, and she [runs] the Lionheart [Trust]Footnote 16. I was at a conference, with Research Ed. in Kent, and she spoke specifically about the setting up of a Classics course, in general, in school. I wanted to make an application to Classics for All. I was a bit clueless, and I wanted to get it right, and I sent [the application] to Anna. She essentially told me how to structure the application and the lovely Caroline sent me books. She donated [them]. I was crying with happiness. The SLT lady makes sure that donations cover the clubs. [With] some of the books I want to do a mini library, part for me, for text books I can use, and partly books [the students] can borrow; so, it's not much. Schools are stripped already. She sent me the whole lot. This is a major start.
I don't have an [official qualification]. In Italy you were supposed to learn [Latin] all through school. I always had an interest. My degree is Biomedical Science – because I know Latin, [I know] some of the vocabulary of the scientific world. It wasn't easy, but I knew the prefixes and the roots, and all that. If I could retrain, I'd do Ancient History. I'm an NQT, started in July. Secondary PGCE. I started with [name of university], then I took a break and did a SCITT, still with [name of university], but with a SCITT, in primary. So, one of the things I've done is Ancient Greece as a topic. Then I started the debate club. I wanted to do it for a long time. When I came here in April, I said I wanted to do it. There are a couple of teachers. There are some with GCSE Latin. I am starting it as a club, and I'd like to see more. I'm starting to teach Science at A level in the sixth form, and we'd like to bring more. There are 1200 kids, including about 300 in sixth form. We're pushing for Science. We're in grammar land. [We are] surrounded by grammars. A lot has been said about cultural capital, that Greece gives you the starting point – ‘So, when are we doing it, miss?’
Interviewer: So, the ambition is to establish a club, broadly called Classics club.
Lily: You think so? I want to call it something Latin-y, but I don't just want Latin. [I want it] offered to anyone who wants. 45 mins to an hour after school. School finishes at 3pm. Then they come up to me.
Interviewer: Is there a tradition for offering after-school subjects? Enrichment?
Lily: There's a really nice enrichment list: Warhammer, art, sports, dancing, champion cheerleading team.
Interviewer: Does Classics / Latin, fit in with – you talked about cultural capital – does is send a message out to parents?
Lily: Yes. We are a knowledge-driven, traditional-style school. I teach from the front. We believe that power, knowledge for life…Latin is a part of it, in the sense of giving opportunities to children who wouldn't do it. We've got about 30% Pupil PremiumFootnote 17, but we are surrounded by some of the best performing schools. The ethos [is all about] growing in knowledge, [going] beyond the exams. [It's] something that drives them. [It's] a solid knowledge foundation. The ambition is to improve it as an actual course later on. I'd like to do with Latin the OCR Entry CertificateFootnote 18. For the children that would be a nice goal to get them hooked on.
Discussion
There are a number of key issues that come through from the interviews. All four respondents indicate they were able to introduce Latin and Classics into their schools successfully. This concurs with the steadily accumulating literature of non-specialist Latin teachers (Maguire, Reference Maguire2012; Felton, Reference Felton, Holmes-Henderson, Hunt and Musie2018; Darby, Reference Darby, Holmes-Henderson, Hunt and Musie2018). Personal experience of learning Latin at school or a belief in the value of the subject, particularly as an aid to improving students’ literacy, is a major concern for the teachers:
I wanted to do it as part of a debating thing, but it turned into a Classics thing. In Italy you were supposed to learn [Latin] all through school. I always had an interest. (Lily).
It’s interesting in looking at the idea of it. I always knew it was going to help with anything; and the grammar we weren't taught in English. (Bea).
All four teachers mention the practice of Latin vocabulary learning as part of the lesson routine. Two, however, relate this more explicitly to their belief that learning it helps to improve the students’ own knowledge of vocabulary in English and as a support for modern foreign languages. Lily referred to her own deeper understanding of science because of her knowledge of Latin: ‘It wasn't easy, but I knew the prefixes and the roots, and all that.’ Bea, on the other hand, notes that reading Latin stories, while different to the communicative style of teaching typical in modern foreign languages, motivates students to continue to pursue languages of all kinds:
They really enjoy learning language through stories. We're trying to do that through French. It's just increasing their interest, to increase uptake for Modern Foreign Languages. (Bea).
There is strong evidence, much of it anecdotal, for the value Latin (and Ancient Greek) has as a facilitating subject for improving students’ English and modern foreign languages (Bracke & Bradshaw, Reference Bracke and Bradshaw2020; Reynard, Reference Reynard2020; Holmes-Henderson, Reference Holmes-Henderson2015). Many of the ‘second tier’ words have their roots in Latin; therefore, Latin can explicitly teach the children English vocabulary which is so crucial for reading comprehension (Beck, McKeown & Kucan, Reference Beck, McKeown and Kucan2008; Quigley, Reference Quigley2018). The National Curriculum for Languages at Key Stage 2 also values Latin and Ancient Greek for the support they offer to modern languages at Key Stage 3 (Department for Education, 2013a).
The other attraction to students of learning Latin is developing their knowledge of the ancient world. This fits in well with the view of the American educator E. D. Hirsch (Hirsch, Reference Hirsch2020; Hirsch, Reference Hirsch1988) that schools should do more to develop students’ cultural literacy – a view strongly supported by the present Secretary of State for Schools Nick Gibb (Reference Gibb2017). Three of the four teachers noted this as an attraction to their students. For Lily, Classics was the starting point for learning about culture and an entitlement for students from all backgrounds: ‘Latin is a part of it, in the sense of giving opportunities to children who wouldn't do it. […] A lot has been said about cultural capital, that Greece gives you the starting point.’ Dan was more specific. For him, the Cambridge Latin Course provided points of contact between the ancient and modern worlds for students, which could be enriched further by personal experiences of actually visiting the site of Pompeii:
And we are actually – there’s a teacher who has been to Pompeii. He is putting together a presentation of photos. We have had a look at these bits of texts, on Friday. We had a look at Caecilius in the forum. We are considering what the forum is [used for]. (Dan).
Bea noted the students’ intrinsic interest in the ancient world: ‘They seem to be very interested in Roman Civilisation. It's what enthuses. They really enjoy learning language through stories…’
The Latin course which the teachers have chosen to use – the Cambridge Latin Course Footnote 19 – is an attraction to both them and to the students. Three of the teachers describe blending language and cultural learning. Modern foreign languages teachers are accustomed to teaching languages through contemporary themes and personalised instruction. Context and culture play a large role in helping students develop language knowledge (Kramsch, Reference Kramsch1996). The Cambridge Latin Course, with its historically accurate story-based presentation of life in Pompeii in Latin and English, aligns with their pedagogical practices. The National Curriculum History programmes of study include references to Roman Britain at two key stages. At Key Stage 2 students should study the Roman occupation of Britain (Department for Education, 2013b) and at Key Stage 3 students may carry out studies of local sites and population movements which are nationally significant – both explicitly noting that the studies may include material from the period before 1066 (Department for Education, 2013c). While the first book of the Cambridge Latin Course does not include Roman Britain (based, as it is, in Pompeii), the second book isFootnote 20. The course book therefore provides the teachers who were interviewed with multiple opportunities to offer the sort of learning which accords with DfE ambitions for languages, literacy and history.
The teachers all describe the current provision of Latin in their schools as fragile. Apart from Bea, who is lucky enough to have Latin timetabled for all Year 7s, the other three often have to negotiate their own timetable space. Lessons for Lily, Dan and Louisa are off-timetable. In two schools the position of Latin is maintained because of the dedication of the teachers to use their own time to teach it. Dan and Louisa both give up their own lunchtimes – as do their students. Louisa had enlisted the support of the senior leadership team to find a time when students might be able to attend regularly and easily. Schools A, B and C all had established enrichment activities and it could be said that it would be easy to add Latin into the range. However, all the teachers indicated that it was difficult to add Latin to the mix, and students had many other distractions which precluded regular attendance. Some of these were structural: School B had compulsory ‘family lunches’ where all students in the year attend a set lunch time eating together, and every student took part in an extensive school music programme (at this school every student learnt a musical instrument, for example): ‘Some of the kids had to go to detentions or sometimes I only had one pupil’ (Louisa). This made it very hard to provide a lesson which met everyone's needs and the size of the class had dwindled and progress had been slow. Development of Latin at School B, even with the support of the senior leadership team, as mentioned by Louisa, would need some serious consideration which the teacher alone should not have to perform. The wellbeing of teachers and students having to meet at times of relaxation should also be taken into account. Not only is the teacher having to prepare for teaching a subject which is unfamiliar to them, but they are having to accommodate this alongside their normal teaching load and having to deal with irregular patterns of student engagement. Dan's classes were mixed-age groups, for example; Louisa's class ebbed and flowed according to enrolment. Lily and Bea's situations were more secure, however, in that early decisions seemed to have been made by senior leadership to make provision regular and attainable. Lily's school provided compulsory after-school activities ranging from ‘catch-up’ sessions to wargaming. Latin fitted well onto a menu of activities which was offered across the school. Bea's school had been able to gain a timetable slot of one hour per week by taking one of the two hours originally allocated to Design Technology. The whole-school plan was to improve the uptake of EBacc subjects, of which Latin and Modern Foreign Languages were components; Design Technology, not being an EBacc subject, suffered. The drive for the EBacc sems to have served Latin well in this case.
Financial aid and support for resourcing the Latin courses was a problem for schools B, C and D. Lily mentioned the support she had received from another teacher she had met at a conference in helping her apply for training from Classics for All, and from the Cambridge School Classics Project in supplying her with course books. No teacher mentioned that schools had set aside money from central funding to set up the courses. Lily seemed to be the only one who had secured some funding from school, in the form of donations, which were offered to ‘cover the clubs’ (Lily). She also wanted books to develop her own subject knowledge around and beyond the course books:
Some of the books, I want to do a mini library, part for me, part for text books I can use…and partly books they can borrow; so, it's not much. Schools are stripped already. She sent me the whole lot. This is a major start. (Lily).
Dan mentioned that the Roman Society had provided a grant for his books, but that until their arrival he was using photocopies. This reliance on handouts seems to be typical of the way in which non-specialists are expected to introduce Latin into their schools. Several prior studies indicate little change has occurred as a result of learning from past experiences. Darby (Reference Darby, Holmes-Henderson, Hunt and Musie2018) recalls the challenge of sourcing the right sorts of books for the students and for the teacher. Hogg (Reference Hogg2017) notes how the process of setting up Latin can be highly dependent on the individual who see themselves as teachers and learners at the same time, often with many other responsibilities for which they are held accountable by their schools. Hunt (Reference Hunt2018) has noted the potential loneliness of the non-specialist Latin teacher who is not sure where to turn or where to seek advice.
All four teachers are keen to keep on. There's a sense of experimentation, personal sacrifice and determination to do things right for their students, their schools and for themselves. It is not surprising to note that at this stage assessment is close to their thoughts. The view that summative assessment has a positive effect on the motivation of all students is contentious (Evidence for Policy and Practice, 2020). However, both Lily and Louisa referred to the importance of an end of course examination, such as the OCR Entry Level or WJEC Level 1 Certificate in LatinFootnote 21, to motivate their students to continue to participate through the year. This view is similar to that shown in McPherson (Reference McPherson2017) who demonstrated students’ motivation to continue with Latin resulted from the offering of the WJEC Level 1 Certificate. For schools like these, where there is no history of cohorts of students taking GCSEs in Latin, ‘stepping-stone’ qualifications such as the Level 1 Certificates and Entry level qualifications are important as a means to identify success both by students and by teachers.
Conclusion and recommendations
I recognise that this study is very small scale and it is difficult to generalise from the comments. Nevertheless, the issues which teachers draw attention to are worthy of consideration and should form the basis of further research with a wider range of teachers in the future. Particular research areas should include support structures for non-specialist Latin teachers, the value of Latin and other classical subjects for students as part of the curriculum, and the suitability of current qualifications for schools where Latin has only recently been introduced.
The teachers in this study recognise that Latin aligns with DfE encouragement for schools to enter students for the EBacc subject group. They believe it supports students’ languages, English literacy and cultural literacy. In this way their schools’ actions fit with Ofsted's ambitious curriculum offered to all students.
The teachers in this study are, however, shown to be reliant upon the goodwill of other teachers and organisations to support the introduction of Latin into schools which have no previous history of offering the subject. Their mission is almost a personal one. If the DfE considers Latin to be important enough to include as an option for compulsory languages at Key Stage 2, as a support for taking modern foreign languages at Key Stage 3, and for inclusion among the EBacc subject group, it should develop and publish a more coherent strategy in order for teachers in similar positions to access information, training and resources. In the past the DfE was more obviously supportive. For example, in 2014 the Secretary of State for Education provided financial support for a teacher-training summer school for Latin at Oxford University (Hunt, Reference Hunt2016); and in 2000 the DfEFootnote 22 awarded a grant of £5,000,000 for the development of digital resources for the Cambridge Latin Course (Lister, Reference Lister2007).
The teachers in this study value nationally-recognised examinations that are at a level below that of the GCSEs. Examination boards should maintain the sub-GCSE qualifications (Level 1 Certificates and Entry Level qualifications) as they offer a desirable stepping-stone route into GCSEs. This should lead to increased numbers of students entering for the GCSEs themselves in subsequent years.
Many non-governmental organisations are now actively seeking to support the re-introduction of Latin and other classical studies in state-maintained schools throughout the UKFootnote 23. Co-ordination between these groups has been much improved recently, with the setting up of the Classics Development Group. The DfE should work closely with these organisations to achieve its ambitions for a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum for students at all key stages – a curriculum to which classical subjects have much to contribute.
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