Advocating Classics Education2021-01-20T21:12:15+00:00
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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.

Since 2017, we have received funding from the AHRC, the Classical Association, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, King’s College London and a private donor.

Mission Statement

Far too few British children are educated about 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 and in possession of qualified teacher status, enthusiasm to teach the ancient world, and sufficient support. From 1 July 2017, our project will engage directly with teachers, schools and the public in a series of public events in 15 regional centres across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, designed to maximise dialogue that will feed into our research and public impact.

Funding

The project Principal Investigator, Professor Edith Hall, was delighted to be informed in January 2017 that she had been awarded a Leadership Fellowship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to support this project and enable Dr Arlene Homes-Henderson, who co-wrote the application, to join her as Research Fellow in the Department of Classics at King’s College London.

From March 2019 the project has been funded by the Classical Association, King’s College London, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies and the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies; the Research Fellowship position has been funded until 2021 by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and a private donor.

Those who would like to learn more donating to the work of the project should contact Professor Edith Hall at [email protected].

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.

Blog

ACE Moves to Durham University

Since 2017, the Advocating Classics Education project has been based at King’s College London, whence it has been busy promoting the study of Classical Civilisation and Ancient History in schools and colleges. We are delighted […]

Founding a Classics Cohort in Wales

By Danny Pucknell, Lecturer in Classics, History and Politics

As you approach the ultra-modern, glass-fronted Cardiff and Vale College, you would be forgiven for thinking that only that which is at the cutting edge of technology could […]

View Our Blog

Our Impact

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

Our Partners

Our Partners