Advocating Classics Education

We are a UK-wide project to extend qualifications in classical subjects across the secondary sector. Our full title is Studying Classical Civilisation in Britain: Recording the Past and Fostering the Future. This website has been created to provide a permanent hub for discussion, sharing and dissemination of news, information, ideas and resources which further the project’s mission.

 

Goal

Project Goals

To introduce or support the teaching of classical subjects in schools or 6th-form colleges.

To raise the profile of classical subjects.

To influence educational policy, especially by getting Classical Civilisation accepted alongside Ancient History as a core Humanities subject on the English Baccalaureate.

To conduct unprecedented research into the achievements in teaching of the civilisation and history of ancient Greece and Rome through English translations in British schools/6th-form colleges since the 1960s.

Funding

Funding

In 2017, Prof Edith Hall was awarded £250,000 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to lead the project. In 2019, funding from the Classical Association, a private donor, King’s College London, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies and the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies expanded the project’s scope. In 2021 Prof Arlene Holmes-Henderson secured Follow-On Funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to work in collaboration with museums and an exam board.

Since 2022, the project has been based at Durham University where it is co-directed by Profs Hall and Holmes-Henderson. It is the home of the Durham University Classics and Class in the North East project, co-ordinated by Dr Rory McInnes-Gibbons.

Mission Statement

British children have unequal access to the study of the ancient Greeks and Romans at secondary level. Studying ancient Greek and Roman civilisation, history, thought, literature, art and archaeology is not only exciting and instructive, but confers profound advantages: it hones analytical and critical skills, trains minds in the comparative use of different types of evidence, introduces young people to the finest oratory and skills in argumentation and communication, enhances cultural literacy, refines consciousness of cultural difference and relativism, fosters awareness of a three-millennia long past, along with models and ideals of democracy, and develops identities founded in citizenship on the national, European and cosmopolitan, global level.

Unfortunately, qualifications at GCSE and ‘A’ or A/S Level in Latin and Ancient Greek languages are hardly available outside the private education sector. There is, however, a financially feasible solution for state sector students: the introduction of courses leading up to qualifications in Classical Civilisation or Ancient History. In most parts of the UK, these qualifications can be taught by any teacher, of any subject, currently employed in a school or 6th-form college with enthusiasm to teach about the ancient world, and sufficient support.

Classical History Studies

Our Impact

The ACE team and its partners have been travelling all over the country, speaking to school teachers and students about Classical Civilisation and Ancient History. This map shows the schools we have engaged with so far.


Latest News

Pandora in Primary Schools

ACE at Hadrian's Wall

By Fiona Henderson

When teaching the myth of Pandora’s box to a year 2 (aged six and seven) class, I gave an empty box to a pupil and told him “I need you to look after this, but don’t open it”. He looked a bit confused but agreed. When…

Advocating Classics Education in the North East

ACE at Hadrian's Wall

By Dr Rory McInnes-Gibbons

During the Easter break, Durham University Classics and Ancient History Department hosted a two-day event for local sixth form students in collaboration with Classics for All (CfA) and English Heritage at the University’s Oriental Museum (OM). Welcoming…

Making Classics Cool in Schools

By Arlene Holmes-Henderson. This post originally appeared on the UKRI blog.

AHRC-funded research has contributed to more young…

Our Partners

Queens University Belfast
University of Bristol
Durham University
University of Glasgow
University of Kent
Kings College London
University of Leeds
University of Manchester
University of Nottingham
Open University
University of Reading
University of Roehampton
University of St Andrews
Swansea University
UCD
University of Warwick
Cardiff University